[Clinical interpretation of the subjective complaint of dryness in contact lens wearers].
OBJECTIVE
Patients wearing contact lenses who have the feeling of dryness without any objective symptoms of dry eye are sometimes seen in clinics. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in the clinical signs, personality, and mental condition between a group of contact-lens wearers with no symptoms and a group of contact-lens wearers with subjective symptoms of the feeling of dryness.


METHODS
Eighty-two patients who had no trouble with wearing soft contact lenses (SCL) were employed in this study. The patients were asked to fill out a questionnaire and Yatabe Guilford Personality test (Y-G test), and the height of tear meniscus and fluorescein staining were measured.


RESULTS
Fifty-three patients (65%) complained of a feeling of dryness. There were no significant differences between the presence of the feeling of dryness and types of SCL, the height of tear meniscus, and the severity of fluorescein staining. On the other hand, there was a significant increase in the scores of positive, subjective, and impulsive personality trais on the Y-G test in the symptomatic group.


CONCLUSIONS
For patients who have subjective symptoms of the feeling of dryness, careful observation of objective symptoms should be carried out, and their personality and mental condition should also be evaluated.
Chikama
Tai-ichiro
T
Department of Biomolecular Recognition and Ophthalmology, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, Ube, Japan.
Ueda
Kiichi
K
Nishida
Teruo
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003263:Contact Lenses, Hydrophilic / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000523:psychology*; D003315:Cornea / Q000294:innervation; D015352:Dry Eye Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology; D010556:Personality Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires