Ocular Microbiology and Immunology Group
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2014 OMIG Abstract 24

Characterization of Ocular Pain Features in Dry Eye
Leonid Zlotcavitch, BA^1,3; Elizabeth R Felix PhD^1,2; Scott D Walter, MD^1,3; Roy Levitt MD^1,4-6;
Konstantinos D Sarantopoulos, MD, PhD^1,4; Anat Galor MD, MSPH^1,3
1Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center, ²Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, ³Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami,
⁴Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative Medicine and Pain Management, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, ⁵John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, ⁶John T Macdonald Foundation Department of Human Genetics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL

Background: Few formal pain evaluations have been applied to the study of dry eye. To bridge this gap, we administered a frequently used pain assessment tool, the short form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ), to patients with dry eye.

Purpose: To characterize ocular pain symptoms associated with dry eye disease severity.

Methods: 70 men with persistent dry eye and 32 without completed standardized pain and dry eye symptom questionnaires, and measurement of tear film parameters. Dry eye patients with hot burning pain were compared to those not reporting hot burning pain, and to non-dry eye controls.

Results: 37% of persistent dry eye patients described their pain as hot burning, 37% used other descriptors (exhausting, aching, or tender), and 26% did not endorse any pain descriptors on the SF-MPQ. 86% of subjects with persistent dry eye, compared to 25% of subjects without persistent dry eye, reported having any type of ocular pain during the past month (p < .05). Patients with dry eye and hot burning ocular pain had significantly lower tear break up times, higher tear osmolarity, and higher ratings of average monthly ocular pain compared to subjects with dry eye who did not endorse a hot burning quality to their ocular pain (p<0.05 for all).

Conclusions: Patients with persistent dry eye frequently report ocular pain which is typically not present in those without dry eye symptoms. Subjects who reported a hot burning quality to their ocular pain had a more severe dry eye phenotype than those who did not describe their ocular pain as hot burning. Dry eye patients with symptoms suggestive of neuropathic pain (viz. hot burning pain) demonstrate a more severe disease phenotype.

Financial Support: This project was supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, Clinical Sciences Research and Development’s Career Development Award CDA-2-024-10S (Dr. Galor),  NIH Center Core Grant P30EY014801, Research to Prevent Blindness Unrestricted Grant, Department of Defense (DOD- Grant#W81XWH-09-1-0675); NIH NIDCR R01 DE022903 (Dr. Levitt), and the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative Medicine, and Pain Management, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida for funding.

Disclosure: S

2014 Agenda and Abstracts | < Previous | Next >