Estimating the lacrimal punctum size in an adult population

The aim is to investigate the variation in size of the lacrimal punctum in a normal adult population. The lacrimal puncta are the openings on the inner aspect of your eye which drains tears from the eye into the nose. This opening is important for correct drainage of tears and abnormalities in its size can lead to problems such as watery eye, or dry eye disease. The punctum will be observed and measured once only during one clinic visit to the hospital. The Punctal shape and Punctal parameters including the diameter, horizontal and length and cross-sectional area will be measured and recorded The shape of the punctum when open– which has been described as either round, oval or slit-shaped The diameter of the punctum – measured using a Ramsden eyepiece consisting of a fixed transparent graduated scale with resolution 0.03mm positioned at the field stop fitted to the slit-lamp with magnification of the optical arrangement fixed at 32x For oval puncta – both maximum and minimum lengths will be taken For slit-shaped puncta – both length and breadth will be taken The area of the punctum Photographs of all four puncta will be taken using slit lamp biomicroscopy A computer cursor assembly probe and digitalizer will be used to map the borders of the puncta and the area will be calculated using a photo editing computer program. Recruitment period duration is aprroximately 1 month.