Blink: Characteristics, Controls, and Relation to Dry Eyes

ABSTRACT

Blink is a complex phenomenon that is profoundly affected by diverse endogenous and exogenous stimuli. It has been studied in the context of cognition, emotional, and psychological states, as an indicator of fatigue and sleepiness, particularly in the automobile and transportation industry, in visual tasking, and finally, as it relates to tear film stability and ocular surface health. The fact that it is highly variable and has input from so many sources makes it very difficult to study. In the present review, the behavior of blink in many of these systems is discussed, ultimately returning in each instance to a discussion of how these factors affect blink in the context of dry eyes. Blink is important to ocular surface health and to an individual’s optimal functioning and quality of life. Disturbances in blink, as cause or effect, result in a breakdown of tear film stability, optical clarity, and visual function.

KEYWORDS:

• Blink
• interblink interval
• dry eye
• tear film stability
• ocular surface
• visual function
• visual tasking
• tear film breakup
• quality of life
• clinical trialsmicrosleeps

Declaration of interest

This review was funded 100% by Ora, Inc. John Rodriguez, Keith Lane, George W. Ousler III, Endri Angjeli, and Lisa Smith are all employees of Ora, Inc. There are no other relationships, conflicts of interest, or commercial relationships to disclose for these authors or their family members. There are also no corporate appointments, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interests or patent licensing to them or their families in connection with products or companies mentioned in this article or bearing on the subject matter of the article.

Dr. Mark Abelson is the founder of Ora, Inc. He is retired and no longer has any Board or management capacity at Ora.

His wife, Annalee, and sons, Richard and Stuart, are board members of Ora, Inc. Stuart is also CEO and an employee of Ora, Inc.

Ora has a proprietary and financial interest in various measures, endpoints and technologies in the context of dry eye that are in development for implementation in clinical trials. Companies mentioned in the article with regard to therapeutics for dry eye sponsored past clinical trials run by Ora, Inc. There are no other pertinent financial relationships of the authors or their families with regard to products or technology mentioned in this review.