View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Waterloo's Institutional Repository Relationship between corneal sensation, blinking and tear film quality Dr. Daniela S Nosch PhD, MSc., BSc. (Hons.), MCOptom, FBCLA1,2 Dr. Heiko Pult PhD, MSc. (PCO), FAAO, FBCLA, FEAOO1,3 Dr. Julie Albon PhD1,4 Prof. Dr. Christine Purslow PhD, MCOptom, FBCLA, FIACLE1,5 Prof. Dr. Paul J Murphy, MBA, PhD, FCOptom, FAAO, FEAOO1,6 1School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom 2Institute of Optometry, University of Applied Sciences (FHNW), Olten, Switzerland 3Dr. Heiko Pult - Optometry and Vision Research, Weinheim, Germany 4Cardiff Institute of Tissue Engineering and Repair, Cardiff, United Kingdom 5Plymouth University Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Plymouth, United Kingdom 6School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada Number of Figures: 5 Number of Tables: 4 Correspondence /reprint address: Dr. Daniela S Nosch Institute of Optometry Department of Engineering, University of Applied Sciences (FHNW) Riggenbachstrasse 16 CH-4600 Olten Switzerland Telephone +41 62 957 26 03 Fax +41 957 26 09
[email protected] Submission date: May 10th 2015 – submission of review: August 6th 2015 Abstract Purpose: To examine the possible role of corneal sensitivity and tear film quality in triggering a blink by investigating the relationship between blink rate, central corneal sensitivity threshold (CST), ocular surface temperature (OST), tear meniscus height (TMH), tear film quality (non- invasive tear break-up time: NIBUT), and tear film lipid pattern, under normal conditions. Methods: Forty-two volunteers (average age: 27.76±5.36 years; 11 males) with good ocular health (OSDI <15.0) were recruited for this cross-sectional cohort study.