Allergic conjunctivitis anddryeye

Aims-Differential diagnosis ofallergic conjunctivitis ordryeyeissometimes verydifficult todiagnose bysymptoms andclinical examination alone, especially inolder patients. Itwashypothesised that clinically allergic patients who were serumantigen specific IgEnegative were candidates fordryeye. Methods-Sixty patients were studied prospectively who wereclinically diagnosedwithallergic conjunctivitis bytheir itchy sensation andpapilla formation of conjunctiva. Theyconsisted of30serum antigen specific IgEpositive and30IgE negative patients, withnosignificant differences inage.Dryeyeexamination and serumtotal IgEwereperformed onthese twogroups. Results-No significant differences were seenbetween thetwogroupswithregard toage(p=0.76) andsexratio. Theantibody negative grouphadlowerSchirmer's test scores(p=0.002), lowertearclearance (p=0.0001), lowertearfunction index (p=0.0001), andlowerserumtotalIgE (p=0.04) thantheantibody positive group. Conclusion-This studysuggests thatthe evaluation ofserumantigen specific IgE andteardynamics areimportant forthe differential diagnosis of patients with allergic conjunctivitis anddryeye.Clinicallydiagnosed allergic conjunctivitis withnegative serumantigen specific and total IgEcanbeoneformofdryeye.