Abstract:

Objective To measrue the eyelid pressure with the designed blepharometer on normal and dry eye patients, and to analyze the influence factors of eyelid pressure. Design Prospective case series. Participants Forty-two cases of normal subjects and sixty-two cases of dry eye patients in the Beijing Tongren Hospital were collected. Methods The new type of eyelid pressure measurement instrument (blepharometer) was used to measure the pressure of the upper eyelid of normal and dry eye patients, and the influence factors of eyelid pressure were analyzed. For observing the repeatability of the instrument, each subjuct was measured 3 times. The symptoms and signs of the subjects were followed to observe the safety of the instrument. Main Outcome Measures Upper eyelid pressure. Results The upper eyelid pressure value of normal subjects is (0.40±0.13)N, lower than dry eye patients(0.55±0.21 N) (t=2.561, P=0.026). There are no statistical difference between each set of data measured three times (t=1.22, P>0.05) . None of the subjects appeared ocular abnormalities. The upper eyelid pressure was negatively correlated with age (r =-0.372, P=0.020). There was a significant correlation between the upper eyelid pressure and the BUT and Schirmer I test in dry eye patients (r=-0.262、-0.235，P<0.05), and no significant correlation was observed with the corneal staining score (r=0.205，P=0.063). Conclusion The new eyelid pressure instrument can safely, effectively and repeatably evaluate the upper eyelid pressure. With age, the pressure of the upper eyelid to the eyeball gradually decreases in normal subjects. Compared with normals, the eyelid pressure of the dry eye patients was elevated. The relationship between eyelid pressure and ocular surface epithelial cell lesion remains to be further studied.

Key words:  eyelid pressure measurement instrument, repeatability, veracity, safety