Rolando Toyos,
Medical Director and Founder of Toyos Clinic, USA
Title: Osmolarity in Dry Eye Disease
Biography
Biography: Rolando Toyos,
Abstract
Purpose: In this prospective study, we show the influence of intense pulsed light therapy (IPL) on tear osmolarity, an increasingly
important metric of dry eye disease. Previous studies have measured the effectiveness IPL has had on other metrics including tear break up time (TBUT), lipid layer grade (LLG), tear evaporation rate (TER), tear meniscus height (TMH), and subjective responses from patients.
Methods: Single center prospective study included 30 patients and 60 eyes. Patient’s ages ranged from 18 to 90 years old with
75% of participants being female. All patients had dry eye disease with a TBUT of 10 seconds or less. Tear osmolarity was
measured bilaterally before a single IPL treatment followed by one drop of topical NSAID. Bilateral tear osmolarity was then measured again one month later.
Results: Average tear osmolarity pre-treatment OD was 303 mOsm/L and OS was 302 mOsm/L. Average tear osmolarity posttreatment was OD 295 mOsm/L and OS 295 mOsm/L. Paired t-test was performed showing the change in tear osmolarity to
be statistically significant in each eye, OD p=0.002 and OS p=0.001.
Conclusions: A statistically significant decrease in tear osmolarity from abnormal to normal range demonstrates an improvement in tear film quality after one treatment with IPL, thus suggesting IPL's effectiveness in treating dry eye disease.