Dry eye syndrome and psoriasis

[Fred]

This small study looked at dry eye syndrome (DES) in patients with psoriasis.

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Background:
Psoriasis is one of the most common dermatoses associated with a variety of comorbidities. There have been some reports on its possible association with ocular disorders however dry eye syndrome (DES) in such patients has been poorly investigated.

Objectives:
To investigate the frequency of DES symptoms in psoriatic patients, also regarding psoriasis severity in PASI, manifestation and therapy.

Methods:
40 patients with psoriasis and 40 volunteers without dermatoses were enrolled in the study. They completed Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire and were objectively examined by IDRA® device to perform automatic interferometry, automatic meibography of lower eyelid glands, non-invasive break-up time (NIBUT), blink quality and tear meniscus height.

Results:
Patients with psoriasis had statistically significantly thicker lipid layer (p = 0.0042 left eye, p = 0.0313 right eye) and greater loss of Meibomian glands compared to controls (p = 0.0128 left eye, p = 0.048 right eye). The patients had lower, although insignificantly, eye blink quality and tear meniscus height than the control group, as well as shorter NIBUT and higher score in OSDI. After the division of patients into two groups–with or without nails involvement/psoriatic arthritis/systemic treatment– we did not observe any significant differences between the groups. PASI did not correlate with any DES parameter.

Conclusions:
This is the first study of DES symptoms with an objective IDRA® analyzer. We managed to observe that patients with psoriasis have thicker lipid layer and higher Meibomian glands' loss in lower eyelids. Based on all assessed objective and subjective parameters psoriatics do not seem to have an increased risk of DES. The presence of psoriatic arthritis or nail involvement does not seem to be a predisposing factor for DES development. PASI probably cannot be a prognostic factor for any of the DES-associated parameters. Nevertheless, DES in psoriasis requires further research on bigger samples to establish reliable recommendations.

Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com

*Early view funding unknown.

[Caroline]

That is literally “looking good”

Indeed I have never had any eye problems, I never have dry eyes. But since I had the eye inflammation due to the shingles, the left eye sometimes is a little dry, that is still in the recovery, which could take long I heard from the eye doc.

[Kat]

I actually woke up this morning with dry eyes (well one of them) Thankfully after getting up and blinking a bit, things improved and are back to normal.

[Fred]

I often have dry eyes and they water a lot in the morning which makes them sting.