Typically, improving ocular comfort is the primary goal of dry eye therapy, but new research published in Clinical and Experimental Optometry suggests clinicians should be concerned with patients’ quality of vision, too. The study suggests DED therapy can also improve optical quality in dry eye patients.

The study included 25 eyes of 25 untreated patients with dry eye. The investigators performed ocular surface and optical quality exams before and after two weeks of treatment with hyaluronate in conjunction with fluorometholone eye drops.

They found that Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) scores, tear film break-up time and corneal fluorescein staining improved after two weeks of treatment. Additionally, contrast sensitivity in photopic, photopic with glare, scotopic and scotopic with glare conditions all improved.

Also of note: Total corneal aberrations and the surface regularity index did not significantly differ before and after treatment, while corneal higher-order aberrations, standard deviation of corneal power and the surface asymmetry index significantly improved after treatment. Additionally, changes in standard deviation of corneal power and surface asymmetry index correlated with change in corneal fluorescein staining.