Dry eye and dry skin - is there a connection?

ABSTRACT

Aim

To enquire whether patients with dry eye symptoms also report dry skin, whether their perception could be corroborated with objective measurement, and whether dry eye disease might be suspected based on patients’ complaints.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 50 subjects, 25 with and 25 without dry eye symptoms. Schein questionnaire was used to determine the severity of dry eye symptoms. Ocular signs were assessed by monitoring conjunctival hyperemia, ocular surface staining, meibomian gland expression, tear film lipid layer thickness, tear break-up time, lid parallel conjunctival folds, Schirmer test, and meibometry. Skin dryness was assessed by noting patients’ self-perception of their facial skin dryness and measured by sebumeter.

Results

Subjects without dry eye symptoms had self-reported oilier facial skin than those with dry eye symptoms (p < .001). Sebumetry scores measured on the forehead and cheek were significantly higher in subjects without dry eye symptoms than dry eye subjects (p = .003). After adjustment for age and gender in a logistic regression analysis, dry eye was independently and significantly associated with dry skin (AOR 0.69, p = .040), higher LIPCOF score of both eyes (AOR 2.28, p = .028), lower sebumetry score of the forehead (AOR 0.98, p = .041) and cheek (AOR 0.98, p = .041), and shorter TBUT score after gland expression (AOR 0.90, p = .018).

Conclusion

This study showed that ocular dryness was subjectively and objectively positively correlated to facial skin dryness. Patients reliably described their skin condition. People with dry facial skin also had drier eyes.

KEYWORDS:

• Dry eye syndrome
• quality of life
• ocular surface
• skincare
• tears

Disclosure statement

No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

Authorship

All authors mentioned fulfill the criteria for authorship as per ICMJE guidelines. Anyone who does not meet the criteria has not been included.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.