Effects of Rebamipide on Differences in Power and Axis of Corneal Astigmatism Between Two Intra-patient Keratometric Measurements in Dry Eyes.
INTRODUCTION
This study investigated the effect of rebamipide on discrepancies in the power and axis of astigmatism between two intra-patient keratometric measurements in patients with dry eyes.


METHODS
Fifty-eight dry eyes (with a short tear breakup time [TBUT] of less than 5 s) were analyzed. Patients with dry eye were treated with 2% rebamipide ophthalmic suspension (group R) or Mytear® artificial tear ophthalmic solution (group M) for 4 weeks. TBUT and corneal higher-order aberrations (HOAs) were evaluated at baseline and 4 weeks after treatment. Astigmatism power and axis were measured twice during both evaluations, at 5-min intervals. Baseline and post-treatment measurements were compared. Changes in TBUT and HOAs, and intra-patient discrepancies in astigmatism power and axis measurements were evaluated.


RESULTS
HOAs showed significant positive correlations with intra-patient differences in astigmatism power and axis (P < 0.001). At the 4-week post-treatment follow-up, TBUT increased, and HOAs and astigmatism power and axis discrepancies decreased in a significant number of patients in group R (P < 0.001). In group M, only differences in astigmatism power decreased in a significant number of cases (P = 0.005). The degree of change in the intra-patient difference in astigmatism power between the two post-treatment keratometric measurements was significantly greater in group R than in group M (P < 0.001). In group R, baseline HOAs exhibited a significant positive correlation with changes in HOAs and intra-patient differences in astigmatism power (both P < 0.001). In group M, baseline HOAs were only significantly correlated with changes in intra-patient differences in astigmatism power (P = 0.030).


CONCLUSION
In dry eyes with short TBUTs, rebamipide significantly improved the corneal surface condition and significantly reduced intra-patient discrepancies in astigmatism power and axis measurements. Rebamipide may improve the accuracy of intraocular lens (IOL) power calculations in dry eyes, particularly when toric IOLs are implanted.
['Teshigawara|Takeshi|T|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8264-101X', 'Meguro|Akira|A|', 'Mizuki|Nobuhisa|N|']
Rebamipide Keratometric measurement Dry eye Astigmatic power Astigmatism axis