Prevalence and Risk Factors of Dry Eye Disease after Refractive Surgery

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To assess the prevalence and the risk factors of dry eye disease after refractive surgery. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed on 180 eyes of 98 patients based on medical records. Those who had tear break-up time less of than 5 seconds or had an Oxford stain scale equal to or greater than 2 were defined to have dry eye disease. We analyzed the prevalence of dry eye, compared demographic and clinical features of the dry eye group and normal group, and found risk factors of dry eye after refractive surgery. RESULTS: The prevalence of postoperative dry eye was 62.2%. Compared to the normal eye group, the dry eye group had a significantly higher proportion of women (p = 0.016), older age (p = 0.001), and thin cornea (p = 0.002). The most significant risk factor of dry eye after refractive surgery was presence of dry eye before refractive surgery (odds ratio [OR] = 9.02, confidence interval [CI] = 3.8-21.4). Old age was also found to be an independent risk factor of dry eye after refractive surgery (OR = 1.06, CI = 1.01-1.11). CONCLUSIONS: The risk of dry eye after refractive surgery was increased in older age and preoperative dry eye disease. In order to prevent post-refractive surgery dry eye, caution should be exercised in middle aged patients with preoperative dry eye disease.