Cornea and Contact Lens Research Lab

Dr. Carolyn Begley Dr. Carolyn Begley supervises the Cornea and Contact Lens Research Lab

Dry eye is a condition that affects millions in the United States. The symptoms of dry eye range from very mild to very severe. Patients with autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren Syndrome usually show the most severe symptoms.

Unfortunately, clinical tests for diagnosis of dry eye are not well related to patient symptoms. This is due to our poor understanding of the cause of dry eye and its symptoms.

The goal of research in Dr. Begley’s laboratory is (1) to determine the etiology of dry eye symptoms, and (2) to develop clinical tests that are based on the cause of the symptoms.

Some of the research projects in Dr. Begley’s laboratory:

  1. The influence of tear film breakup (proper coverage of the surface of the eye by tears) on the etiology of dry eye symptoms. We have developed a novel method to digitally quantify the area of tear breakup from fluorescence videos.

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  2. Development of a dry eye questionnaire (DEQ is in PDF format) to determine the frequency and daily intensity of dry eye symptoms.
  3. The influence of tear film breakup on vision in dry eye patients.