Abstract: Allergic conjunctivitis is a common ocular surface disease in clinics and one of the important risk factors for triggering or aggravating dry eye. Allergic conjunctivitis and dry eye are mutually reinforcing and causal. The former can induce or exacerbate dry eye through mechanisms such as damaging the epithelial barrier of the ocular surface, causing tear film instability, meibomian gland dysfunction, and lid-wiper epitheliopathy. Meanwhile, dry eye can promote and aggravate ocular allergy due to (relatively) insufficient tear volume, injury to the ocular surface epithelial barrier, and neurogenic inflammatory responses. In addition, dysbiosis of the ocular surface and mental disorders such as anxiety and depression also bridge the coexistence or interconversion of the two.(Int Rev Ophthalmol, 2023, 47: 186-191)

Key words: dry eye disease, allergic conjunctivitis