J Korean Ophthalmol Soc.  1992 Apr;33(4):297-302.

The Relation Between Clinical Manifestations of Dry Eye Patients and Their BUTs

• Cho BJ
• Lee JH
• Shim OJ

Abstract

Although the measurement of tear film break-up time (BUT) is the most frequently used diagnostic test for dry eye syndrome, there have been no reports for the relationship between clinical manifestations of dry eye patients and the degree of their BUTs. To investigate the relationship, we analyzed retrospectively clinical manifestations of 466 dry eye patients and categorized them into two groups in terms of BUT, the group of BUT <5 seconds and BUT >or=5 seconds, in various clinical manifestations. The two groups were compared by X2-test and the results were as follows. The two groups did not show statistically significant difference in sex, age, duration of symptoms, degree of corneal erosion, and time from the beginning of management to symptom improvement. Therefore we thought that there was no statistically significant correlation beteween the above-mentioned clinical manifestations of this study patients and their BUT's. There were more patients whose BUT were below 5 seconds than those having BUT above 5 seconds in group complaining foreign body sensation as a main symptom and in group having associated chronic conjunctivitis. (BUT, dry eye)

MeSH Terms

Conjunctivitis
Diagnostic Tests, Routine
Dry Eye Syndromes
Foreign Bodies
Humans
Retrospective Studies
Sensation
Tears