Versura P, Cellini M, Torreggiani A, Profazio V, Bernabini B, Caramazza R
Centre of Biotechnological and Clinical Research in Ophthalmology, University of Bologna, S. Orsola Hospital, Via Massarenti 9, I-40138 Bologna, Italy.
Ophthalmic Res. 2001 Jul-Aug;33(4):221-7. doi: 10.1159/000055674.
To report the diagnostic and therapeutic data obtained from 1,200 patients suffering from dry eye symptoms not due to Sjögren's syndrome or other auto-immune diseases.
Schirmer test I, ferning test, breakup time, vital dye staining, brush and imprint cytology were performed; data were grouped into diagnostic profiles, and the therapy was prescribed according to these.
Eight diagnostic profiles were identified. Dry eye was diagnosed in 57.1% of patients; the remaining 42.9% were found to suffer from eye discomfort or conjunctivitis of different aetiologies.
Subjective symptoms of dryness can hide diseases other than dry eye; combined clinical and laboratory tests are requested to make a diagnosis. Our experience indicates that a therapy prescribed on the basis of diagnostic profiles provides relief in 79.1% of cases.
