Bulbar conjunctival microvascular responses in dry eye.

Purpose: Conjunctival microvascular responses may be a surrogate metric of efferent neural pathway function innervating the ocular surface as changes in blood flow occur within seconds after a stimulus. As somatosensory dysfunction may partially underlie dry eye (DE), in this study we evaluate whether bulbar conjunctival microvascular alterations correlate with various aspects of DE.

Methods: Fifty-six DE patients were prospectively recruited from a Veterans Affairs ophthalmology clinic over an 11-month period.