Corneal Sensitivity Demographics Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Corneal Sensitivity Demographics and its Association with Dry Eye
IRAS ID
318209
Contact name
Michel Guillon
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
CooperVision International Limited
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 18 days
Research summary
The cornea (the clear part of the front of the eye) is the most sensitive part of the body to enable it, as part of its protective mechanism, to trigger a blink if any anomaly is detected. Dry eye, which is the most common eye disease encountered in ophthalmic practice, is due to anomalies of the tear film and / or the ocular surface that lead to a range of ocular symptoms of varying severity. One aspect that is now being investigated is whether corneal sensitivity plays a role in dry eye with the key questions being: i. is corneal sensitivity different in asymptomatic and symptomatic dry eye sufferers; ii. does corneal sensitivity differ for different levels of dry eye severity? To date we do not have an answer to these two key questions, hence the rationale of the proposed population study to compare corneal sensitivity between normal and dry eye sufferers and amongst the latter for different severities.
The study is an observational, single site, single visit study to measure corneal sensitivity in an adult population, identify the presence or not of dry eye, quantify the type and severity of any dry eye detected. Participants will attend the clinic on one occasion for about two hours. During the visit they will undergo a series of standard clinical tests applied to dry eye patients and corneal sensitivity measurement. Corneal sensitivity measurement is a non-contact test to determine when a participants detects a light intensity puff of air, similar or less in sensation that the puff of air used routinely for the measurement of intraocular pressure by non-contact tonometry. No measurement or research related information is collected before the prospective participant has consented to take part and at the completion of the visit the participants are discharged from the study.
REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/WM/0179
Date of REC Opinion
2 Aug 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion