1.Comparison of Immediate Effects on Usage of Dual Polymer Artificial Tears on Changes in Tear Film Characteristics
Fatin Amalina Che Arif ; Mohd Radzi Hilmi ; Khairidzan Mohd Kamal ; Mohd Hafidz Ithnin
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2021;17(No.3):252-258
Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate the short-term efficacy of two comparable formulation of dual-polymer
artificial tears: Systane Hydration preservative (SH) and non-preservative (SHUD) in 60 minutes observation period
compared to normal saline. Methods: Fifty participants involved in this prospective, double-masked randomised
study. Viscosity and pH of artificial tears were evaluated using rheometer and digital pH-meter prior to tear film
assessment. Tear break-up time (TBUT) and tear meniscus height (TMH) were measured at baseline, 5, 15 and 60
minutes after instillation. Tear ferning pattern (TFP) were compared between baseline and 60 minutes after instillation. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Independent T-test were used to evaluate the effects of SH and
SHUD after instillation and comparison between each specific time-interval respectively. P-value of 0.05 was set
as the level of significance. Results: The viscosity of SH and SHUD was 26.7cP and 32.73cP re-spectively with
pH of 7.85 (SH) and 7.74 (SHUD). Both artificial tears showed significant increment in TBUT between baseline
and 15 minutes (SH:5.82±1.063, p=0.01; SHUD:6.02±0.979, p<0.001), and 60 minutes (SH:6.22±0.616, p<0.001;
SHUD:6.34±0.658, p<0.001). SHUD demonstrated significant increment in TMH at every measurement taken
(0.1996±0.02449, p<0.001 at 5min, 0.2038±0.02276, p<0.001 at 15min and 0.2068±0.02094, p<0.001 at 60min).
Likewise, in SH group, significant increment in TMH at 15 minutes (0.1994±0.02325, p<0.001) and 60 minutes
(0.2012±0.02379, p<0.001) were noted. Both groups revealed improvement in TFP (both, p<0.001) at 60 minutes.
No significant im-provement was noted in control group. Conclusion: Improvement in TMH was prominently faster
in SHUD than SH, although both TBUT and TFP revealed comparable tears quality between both artificial tears.