Ocular Surface Changes among Smokers

Background: The ocular surface has been defined as the parts of the eye that are exposed 40directly to the external environment (conjunctiva, cornea, limbus, and the overlying tear fil m). The purpose of this study was to determine the changes in the ocular surface among smokers.

Methods: This study included 100 subjects from both sexes, age ≥ 18 years, current smoker (a person who has smoked more than 100 cigarettes in his lifetime and continues to do so) and all types of smoking. patients were classified into two groups: smokers (current smokers) (55 cases) and non-smokers (45 cases) who have never smoked and did not have smokers in their first-degree relatives to rule out the effect of passive smoking. All patients were subjected to, acuity of vision measurement, investigation with a slit lamp and special tests (schirmer 2 test, time required for tear breakup, lower tear meniscus height measurement and staining of the ocular surface).

Results: (Ocular Surface Disease Index) OSDI score was significantly different between non-smokers and smokers with P value 0.01. Schirmer 2 test values were significantly decreased in smokers more than non-smokers with P value <0.001. TBUT was significantly lower in smokers more than non-smokers with P value <0.001. T.M height was significantly lower in smokers more than non-smokers. Conjunctival staining was significantly higher in smokers than non-smokers with P value <0.001 and there was significant increase in punctate corneal staining in smokers than in non-smokers with P value <0.001. `1234567890-.

Conclusions: Smoking influences the secretion and the tear film's stability; corneal and conjunctival staining was shown to be more prevalent in smokers. Also smoking generates symptoms of eye irritation, smokers are more prone to have dry eyes, and the degree of dry eye is greater in smokers than in non-smokers. Additionally, the severity of symptoms of dry eyes increased with increasing the amount of smoking.