Xichen Wan,1– 3 Tong Lin,1– 3 Yunzhen Luo,4 Jiaxu Hong,1– 3,5 Jingyi Cheng,1– 3,* Keqing Zhao6,* 

1Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Eye & ENT Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2NHC Key Laboratory of Myopia and Related Eye Diseases, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 3Key laboratory of Myopia and Related Eye Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Otolaryngology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Ophthalmology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Otolaryngology, Eye & ENT Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Keqing Zhao, Department of Otolaryngology, Eye & ENT Hospital, Fudan University, 83 Fenyang Road, Shanghai, 200031, People’s Republic of China, Email rhinoresearch@163.com Jingyi Cheng, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Eye & ENT Hospital, Fudan University, 83 Fenyang Road, Shanghai, 200031, People’s Republic of China, Email tippicjy@126.com

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of vidian neurectomy (VN) on the ocular surface and the possibility of dry eye in the treatment of allergic rhinitis.
Methods: Twelve participants were recruited in this prospective study. Prior to and after 1 and 6 months of VN, an ocular surface disease index (OSDI) questionnaire was obtained, and the Schirmer’s tear test (STT), break-up time (BUT), corneal fluorescence staining (CFS) score, and Keratograph 5M were used to evaluate the ocular surface condition.
Results: Two patients (16.67%) met the dry eye diagnosis criteria one month after surgery; however, their symptoms were relieved after to 3– 4 months and none of them met the diagnostic criteria for dry eye after six months. Compared with the baseline values, the STT was significantly reduced (P=0.002), while the tear meniscus height (TMH) (P=0.262), break-up time (BUT) (P=0.916), first keratographic tear film break-up time (NK-BUTfirst) (P=0.791), and average keratographic break-up time (NK-BUTave) (P=0.970) did not change significantly 6 months after surgery. The degree of STT decreased from baseline to 6-month and was related to the basic STT (ρ= 0.837, P=0.001) and sex (ρ= − 0.584, P= 0.026) but not to age, OSDI score, BUT, NK-BUTfirst, NK-BUTave or CFS (all P> 0.05). Among these factors, STT at baseline was confirmed to be a predictor of a decline in tear secretion after surgery (B = 0.731, P< 0.001).
Conclusion: In this 6-month prospective pilot study, decreased tearing was observed after VN, but this decrease did not increase the possibility of dry eyes.

Keywords: vidian neurectomy, ocular surface, dry eye