Comparing the effects of artifical tears at room temperature and body temperature

Abstract

This experiment was designed to determine the responses of 50 subjects to the instillation of room and body temperature artificial tears. All subjects were asked to comment on their subjective experience after instillation of Tears Naturale II ® at both temperatures. We hypothesized that subjects in general would prefer body temperature over room temperature. The subject group was divided into four sub-categories as follows: 1) eye condition (dry eye versus non-dry eye), 2) gender, 3) oral contraceptive use and 4) contact lens wearers versus non-contact lens wearers. Statistical significance was achieved only for the sub-category contact lens wearers versus non-wearers. These results suggest that increasing the temperature of Tears Naturale II ® for contact lens wearers versus non-wearers increases the comfort level, however for the general subject group there was no statistically significant preference.