Abstract

Purpose: We aimed at using a novel non-invasive imaging technique to assess changes in the ocular surface & impact on patient comfort after Lenticule extraction.
Methods:30 eyes of 30 patients undergoing lenticule extraction were subjected to Schirmer I, Keratography, Lipiview & subjective evaluation was done using a validated dry eye questionnaire pre & postop at 1,3,6 months. Also, variability in ocular surface temperature during inter-blink interval using Ocular Surface Imager (OSI) was done. Thermography metrics like compactness, convexity and severity scores were studied.
Results:Ocular surface thermography showed less changes from baseline in severity, compactness and convexity. These findings correlated better with patient comfort as compared to traditional tear film metrics.
Conclusion:Thermal imaging with OSI correlated well with patient complaints. Lenticule extraction did not cause significant changes of tear film metrics when compared to the baseline.

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