No abstract

Introduction: in today’s digital environment, dry eye complaints step forward in all age groups. Along with dry eye syndrome, the diagnosis of which is not complicated, there are other causes of dryness such as dysfunction of the tear film and Meibomian glands, etc. For the early detection of the above conditions, invasive diagnostic methods are mainly used.Aim: to compare Non-Invasive Tear Breakup Time (NITBUT) assessed with LacryDiag ocular surface analyzer to results of invasive tests for dry eye syndrome diagnosis to determine the possibility of a wider use of LacryDiag in practical ophthalmology. Materials and Methods: 50 patients with dry eye, burning and feeling of a foreign body complaints participated in this study. Mean age amounted to 28.85 ± 5.86 years. NITBUT was assessed with LacryDiag ocular surface analyzer. The data obtained was compared to the results of Invasive Tear Breakup Time (TBUT) – Norne test, and Schirmer I test.Results: both quantitative and qualitative values of tear film stability were analyzed in all participants. Based on results of the Schirmer I test, patients were divided into subgroups: where it was greater than 21 mm, between 11 and 20 mm, between 6 and 10 mm, and less than 5 mm/ The mean value of the Schirmer I test result amounted to 15.32 ± 6.05 mm/5 min, NITBUT amounted to 9.59 ± 4.37 s, while invasive TBUT amounted to 8.98 ± 3.79 s. It was found that invasive TBUT is in a strong direct correlation with NITBUT values (p <0.001, r = 0.554). No correlation was discovered between Schirmer I test results and TBUT (p = 0.15, r = 0.207) as well as between Schirmer I test result and NITBUT (p = 0.17, r =0.228). No correlation was found between the optical power of the cornea and the tear film structure abnormalities.Conclusion: a strong correlation was found between results of invasive and non-invasive methods of tear film breakup time assessment. No correlation was found between the optical power of the cornea and the tear film disruption. The non-invasive test was found to be an effective and objective method for diagnosing dry eye.

Aim. To study the dynamics of changes in the values of higher order aberrations in amblyopia treatment and the correlation between higher-order aberrations and astigmatism in patients with hyperopic amblyopia.Methods. This cohort prospective study included 36 patients (36 eyes) with refractive amblyopia aged 4 to 16 years. All patients had anisometropia: emmetropia in one eye and hyperopic astigmatism combined with refractive amblyopia of varying degrees in the other eye. Patients were divided into two groups depending on the degree of astigmatism. Astigmatism greater than 1.5 D was detected in 20 patients (55.5%) and astigmatism less than 1.5 D was detected in 16 patients (44.5%). All patients underwent a complex treatment, including twenty half-hour sessions of videocomputer autotraining using “Amblyotron” device during 20 days, in addition to constant wearing of glasses. Higher order aberrations were measured using the WaveScan Wavefront System aberrometer at the first visit and at 3-, 6 - and 12-month follow-up. A correlation analysis was performed to assess the relationship between higher order aberrations and astigmatism.Results. There was a statistically significant difference in treatment success between groups with high and low astigmatism. In both groups, higher order aberrations were reduced during the treatment of amblyopia. When comparing the two groups, a significant difference in coma was found at 12-month follow-up (p = 0.043). At 12-month follow-up, coma showed a statistically significant correlation with astigmatism, and a stronger correlation with astigmatism was found in the group of patients with high astigmatism.Conclusions. In patients with refractive amblyopia associated with astigmatism, the decrease in visual acuity is directly dependent on the values of higher-order aberrations, especially on the values of coma, which should be considered as the cause of the development of amblyopia.