Thermographic evaluation of tear film break-up time to study tear film stability

Tear film instability is one of the major characteristics of dry eye syndrome. However, traditional diagnostic method like fluorescein tear film break-up time (FTBUT) test is limited by its invasiveness, the necessity to use fluorescein sodium and thus variable result. In this study, we proposed a noninvasive method to demonstrate thermal break-up area (Thermal BUA) by thermography, and defined its appearance as thermal break-up time (Thermal BUT). Among 31 normal controls and 42 dry eye patients enrolled in this study, Thermal BUT was significantly lower in dry eye patients (P