Tear LTC4 levels in patients with subclinical contact lens related giant papillary conjunctivitis.

We determined the tear levels of LTC4 in contact lens wearers who had minimal irritative symptoms and signs suggesting subclinical conjunctival abnormalities and the possible development of giant papillary conjunctivitis (GPC). We examined 25 patients wearing rigid gas permeable lenses. Ten of the contact lens wearers had minimal irritative symptoms and nonspecific papillary hypertrophy, and 15 patients had no symptoms. We included eight controls chosen from the same age group who were not contact lens wearers and who had normal conjunctiva. Tear samples were examined through the ELISA technique. Elevated levels of LTC4 were found in the tears of symptomatic patients (525.50 +/- 202 pg/mL) compared with tears of asymptomatic contact lens wearers (52.6 +/- 10.2 pg/mL) and the control group (75 +/- 8.4 pg/mL) (P < 0.001). Two patients in the first group developed GPC in the course of their follow-up. The results of this study indicate that detecting tear LTC4 levels in contact lens wearers can give useful information regarding the presence of contact lens related subclinical inflammation and subclinical GPC.