33 daily disposable soft contact lens wearers with dry eye disease(DED), 33 DED without contact lens wear and 33 normal control subjects will be involved in study. One experienced ophthalmologist will evaluate the DED symptoms and signs, which include ocular surface disease index(OSDI), tear film breakup time(TBUT), Schirmer Ⅰ test, corneal fluorescein staining, lissamine green staining and meibomian gland dropout rate. After evaluating, corneal sensitivity are measured using a Cochet-Bonnet aesthesiometer. Corneal nerve morphology will be assessed in the right eye using in vivo confocal microscopy(IVCM). Fifteen to twenty minutes after IVCM, 20μL of basal tears will be collected from the inferior meniscus of each participant to test tear neuropeptides. Then investigators analyse the correlation of corneal nerve changes and DED symptoms and signs.
This study aims to analyze the changes of corneal nerve morphology and function in contact lens-related dry eye(CLADE) patients and further discuss the role of corneal nerve in the genesis and development of CLADE.