The height and radius of the tear meniscus and methods for examining these parameters.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between the radius of tear meniscus curvature (TMR) and tear meniscus height (TMH).


METHODS
Twenty-nine eyes of dry-eye patients (all left eyes; two males, 27 females, aged 26 to 85 years [mean +/- SD; 60 +/- 14.4]) were enrolled in the study. TMR was measured at the tear meniscus of the central lower lid with a newly developed videomeniscometer. At the same region of the eye, TMHs were measured without fluorescein (TMH-M) and after 5 minutes with fluorescein (TMH-MF), using a slit lamp equipped with a micrometer. TMHs were also measured on cross-sectional photographs of the fluorescein-stained meniscus (TMH-P).


RESULTS
The values of TMR, TMH-M, TMH-MF, and TMH-P (mean +/- SD, mm) were 0.22 +/- 0.09, 0.19 +/- 0.09, 0.21 +/- 0.14, and 0.24 +/- 0.09, respectively. There was significant correlation between TMR and TMH-M, TMH-MF, and TMH-P values (TMR versus TMH-M: r = 0.596, p = 0.0005; TMR versus TMH-MF: r = 0.587, p = 0.0006; TMR versus TMH-P: r = 0.605, p = 0.0003).


CONCLUSIONS
There is a significant correlation between TMR and TMH. Videomeniscometry has some merits over conventional methods for obtaining tear meniscus parameters.
Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan.
H
H
Oguz
N
N
Yokoi
S
S
Kinoshita
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological; D015352:Dry Eye Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D019793:Fluorescein / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013499:Surface Properties; D013666:Tears / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D014741:Video Recording
D003287:Contrast Media; D019793:Fluorescein