title: Tears evaluation of one sample of keratoconus patients in kuala lumpur.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate tears of newly diagnosed keratoconus patients attending the Optometry clinic in Malaysia and to compare this with tears of normal myopic subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  The ocular surface of newly diagnosed keratoconus patients were evaluated using tear break up time (TBUT) test, non invasive tear break up time test (NIBUT) and Schirmer test. Twenty keratoconus patients (40 eyes) and 40 normal subjects (80 eyes) participated in this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly lower TBUT and NIBUT values were found in keratoconus patients than normal control subjects (p<0.05). Mean TBUT and NIBUT for keratoconus patients were 3.99±1.69s and 7.03±3.48s and for normal subjects were 7.24±4.39s and 13.67±10.81s respectively. However, no significant difference was detected in Schirmer test values. Mean values of Schirmer tests I and II for keratoconus patients were 20.52±10.66mm and 10.71±10.43mm and for normals were 23.83±11.34mm and 13.27±8.28mm accordingly.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was concluded from this study that keratoconus patients have poor tear stability which need to be considered appropriately during management of the patients.
authors.affiliation: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Optometry Department, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. bariah@medic.ukm.my.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mohd-Ali
authors.forename: L Y
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Liew
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Tai
authors.forename: Y Y
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007640:Keratoconus; D008296:Malaysia; D013666:Tears