Imaged impact of eye rubbing

Imaged impact of eye rubbing

HOW TRAUMATIC IS EYE RUBBING ?

The importance of eye rubbing in the development of keratoconus, has long been underestimated. There is a debate about whether friction is indeed the indispensable element for the onset and progression of keratoconus, regardless of other risk factors.
To better understand the effect of friction in terms of comprehensively enumerating its mechanical dimension, an experiment was conducted at the Rothschild Foundation. The following video was made thanks to the acquisition of dynamic MRI images in a healthy volunteer who rubbed his eyes … The images are impressive and reveal how much the cornea, but also the eyeball as a whole and the surrounding orbital structures are mistreated by the simple act of making this seemingly banal gesture: to rub one’s eyes.
In view of these images, the question should no longer be whether friction is responsible for the development of keratoconus, but rather how and why certain corneas resist and do not deform over time with repeated friction.

To better understand the effect of eye rubbing by comprehensively enumerating its mechanical dimension, an experiment was conducted at the Rothschild Foundation. The following video was made thanks to the acquisition of dynamic MRI images in a healthy volunteer who rubbed his eyes …
WHAT HAPPEN WHEN WE RUB OUR EYES ?

Rubbing one’s eyes is banal, mechanical, and often feels pleasant. There are many reasons to rub one’s eyes: Allergy, Fatigue, Prolonged work on the screen, Dry eyes, etc. All the details here https://defeatkeratoconus.com/eye-rubbing-reasons/

 

Our goal is to show our website visitors the traumatic effect of this banal gesture in the most objective way possible ! 
Imaged (MRI) impact of eye rubbing : axial cross

The images are impressive and reveal how much the cornea, but also the eyeball as a whole and the surrounding orbital structures are mistreated by the simple act of making this seemingly banal gesture: to rub the eyes.

©  Credit to Dr Julien Savatovsky and Dr Guillaume Debellemanière

Imaged (MRI) impact of eye rubbing : sagittal cross

In view of these images, the question should no longer be whether friction is responsible for the development of keratoconus, but rather how and why certain corneas resist and do not deform over time with repeated friction!
If they still fail to convince the most refractory, to the evidence that keratoconus is a disease originally caused by friction, we hope that these striking images can make them admit that this could really be the case …

©  Credit to Dr Julien Savatovsky and Dr Guillaume Debellemanière

Demonstrated sides effects of eye rubbing in litterature
  • It has been demonstrated that intraocular pressure (IOP) is affected significantly by any contact that applanates or indents the ocular surface and displaces intraocular fluid and was shown to increase by approximately 100% and 300% when the distal end of the index finger was used to apply a light and firm force respectively to the temporal sclera, through the adnexal skin in an open normal eye with IOP of 15 mm Hg,.
  • Studies have also shown that an increase in the compressive rubbing forces exerted in eye rubbing at the corneal surface increases the level of IOP and that repeated episodes of eye rubbing was necessary to observe a significant change in IOPg
  • Chronic eye rubbing has long been implicated in the development and progression of KC
  • Eye rubbing was also shown to have considerable effect on corneal topography by increasing the surface irregularity index and also inducing more than 0.5 diopter of astigmatism after 60s of experimental eye rubbing.
  • Slight rubbing for 10s using one finger and in a smooth circular movement, repeated 30 times over a 30-minute period was shown to significantly reduce the keratocyte density in human corneas, and also leads to a greater concentration of inflammatory mediators in the tears.
  • One study found that there was an 18.4% reduction in the thickness of the epithelium immediately after rubbing ()
  • There is one case report of Keratoconus induced after post Filtering Surgery Globe Massage on the same eye  (13)

So, eye rubbing as a behavior in symptomatic patients, is of great concern to eye care practitioners during history taking of patients, owing to the frequency of occurrence of these symptoms in patients during routine clinical practice.

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