Compare optical with photometry measures of tear film lipid layer

Abstract

Purpose Quantity of tear film lipids could be estimated optically by colours of interference By photometric evaluation it may be measured. Therefore we compared both measures. Methods Patients with dry eyes were observed by Tearscope and Meibometer 550. For tearscope we used the 4‐parted scale of colours. Meibometry was performed with clean stripes, which have touched the tear film. >300 units are said to be normal. We observed the tear film by Schirmer I, Lissamin green and fluorescein staining, and the break up time. We correlated the measurements with Pearson Correlation. Results 85 eyes of 53 patients were observed. Both measurements of the lipids showed positive correlations R=67. There was no Correlation between any lipid measurement and the watery and mucin Layer (R‐0,1 ‐ 0,3) Conclusion The measurement of lipids is similar in both measurements. The optical evaluation needs longer experience, the Meibometry needs standards to find reproducible results. The lack of correlation between lipid layer results and the other results of the tear film observation may point at the special function of lipids independent of the other layers of the tear film.