Superfície ocular e hepatite C

purpose: to evaluate the outcomes of the tests used for dry eye diagnosis in patients with hepatitis c virus, and to verify if there is any relationship between the duration of illness and intensity of ocular surface changes. methods: 25 patients with hepatitis c virus without treatment, and 29 patients with negative serologic tests for hepatitis c virus were selected. biomicroscopy, tear film crystallization test, tear film break-up time, evaluation of the corneal staining with 1% fluorescein sodium, schirmer i test, ocular surface staining with 1% rose bengal and esthesiometry were performed in both groups. results: in the schirmer i test, the group of patients with hepatitis c displayed lower values in both eyes (or p=0.0162; os p=0.0265). for the tear film break-up time, there was a lower score in the group with hepatitis c, but it was statistically significant only in the left eye (p=0.0007). regarding the ocular surface damage, the rose bengal staining test showed a higher average in the hepatitis group in both eyes (right p=0.0008; left p=0.0034). there was a difference in the average esthesiometry between the groups, being the average lower in infected patients (or p=0.0006; os p=0.0015). there was no linear association between time of hepatitis c infection and intensity observed in dry eye tests. conclusions: hepatitis c virus infection causes dry eye. further researches are necessary to establish the physiopathology and the relationship with sj？gren syndrome.