The patients with various ocular diseases frequently rub their eyes. The author studied the effects of eye rubbing on the histologic characteristics of the conjunctiva. Each one eye of twenty albino rabbits were rubbed on the upper lid with finger for five-minute period, and the unrubbed contralateral eye served as a control. The upper tarsal conjunctivas were taken immediately, at four, eight, and twenty-four hours after the rubbing. After fixation of specimens in Karnovsky´s fixative, the tissues were processed for preparation of Epon block and one-micron section. Sections were stained with alkaline Giemsa and toluidine blue and light microscopic examination was performed.
The results were as followings : Immediately after rubbing, the conjunctival epithelium was disrupted and the mast cells became degranulation. At four hours, there was moderate infiltration of neutrophils. At eight and twenty-four hours after rubbing, infiltration of macrophages was occurred and increased in number. But there was no significant changes in numbers of lymphocytes, plasma cells, and eosinophils.
This study revealed that eye rubbing induces conjunctival erythema and alteration in the inflammatory cell infiltrate, and therefore eye rubbing may influence the course and severity of ocular diseases.
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