Abstract: Objective  To investigate the principle of dry eye in children with mild allergic conjunctivitis and the effect of different therapies, and provide guidance for the treatment of allergic conjunctivitis.
  Methods  Retrospective analysis was performed on 101 children (observation group) and 100 healthy children (control group) aged 4-10 years with mild allergic conjunctivitis. Children with allergic conjunctivitis were tested for allergens. The relationship of tear film breakup time(BUT), corneal fluorescein(FL) score, tear meniscus height(TMH)between two groups was analyzed. And the correlation between BUT, FL score, TMH and course of disease was analyzed. The observation group was divided into group A(42 cases of children) and group B(59 cases of children) according to the presence of artificial tears in the treatment plan. BUT, FL score and TMH of group A and B were compared before and after treatment.
  Results  The observation group BUT shorter than the control group. The FL score was higher than the control group(P＜0.01). There was no significant difference in TMH between two groups(P＞0.05). In the observation group, BUT was negatively correlated with course of disease(r=-0.439, P＜0.01), FL score was positively correlated with course of disease(r=0.396, P＜0.01), TMH was not correlated with course of disease(r=0.043, P＞0.05). After treatment, BUT was longer, FL score was lower in group A and B. TMH was higher than before in group A; and in group A,BUT was longer, FL score was lower, TMH was higher than group B, the difference was statistically significant(P＜0.05).
  Conclusion  Allergic conjunctivitis in children can reduce the stability of tear film in both eyes, destroy the integrity of corneal epithelium and cause dry eye symptoms, but it has no significant effect on tear secretion. The longer course of the disease causes the lower stability of tear film which leads the greater damage of corneal epithelium. Anti-allergy combined with artificial tear treatment of allergic conjunctivitis is more effective.

Key words: conjunctivitis, allergic, xerophthalmia, child