Dry Eye Syndrome
It has been estimated that in the United States alone, over 10 million people have tear film abnormalities, which are collectively termed keratoconjunctivitis sicca or dry eye syndromes. There are two types of dry eye syndrome, one which is due to a lack of tear secretion from the lacrimal gland or Sjögren's syndrome, and the other called the evaporative type which is due to a lack of lipid constituents in the tear film. There are no cures for these syndromes, and if left untreated with artificial tears or by therapy to reduce tear film loss, they can lead to corneal desiccation, ulceration, perforation, infection and in the worse case visual decline and blindness. In 2006, the FDA in conjunction with the National Eye Institute stated that clear and specific guidelines were needed for conduct of clinical Dry Eye research. We are currently working with leaders in the fields of Dry Eye Research and Regulators to develop a sensitive clinical assay to test therapeutics for Dry Eye Research. EEC#5 can be used to provide environmental precipitators in isolation or in combination, such as low relative humidity (as low as 5% RH), air movement in a variety of modalities from turbulent to laminar flows, and visual tasking. Several subjective and objective measures of Dry Eye will be used. For instance, in terms of evaluating Dry Eye symptoms induced within the chamber, we will be using Schirmer's test to determine tear production, tear film break-up time (TFBU) and Rose Bengal staining.
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