[Significance of New Methods of Examining the Tear Film in Dry Eye Disease: Tear Film Osmolarity and Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMP-9)].

Dry eye disease is one of the most common diagnoses in ophthalmology. A variety of subjective and objective test methods with imprecise limits and highly different sensitivities and specificities complicate the diagnosis. Especially mild to moderate pathological findings can be misdiagnosed. In recent years, new options have opened, through the development of new, clinical practicable diagnostic equipment, for example, for the analysis of tear film osmolarity or matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-9). The value of tear film osmolarity and determination of MMP-9 levels in the diagnosis of dry eye and its subtypes will be discussed and evaluated objectively, on the basis of published study results.