Assessment of the vision-related quality of life (VR-QOL) in patients with watery eyes

Abstract

Watering from the eyes is one of the common ocular complaints which leads to blurred vision. It has an impact on daily activities and the social life of the individual which is not studied much. Hence, we did this study with the aim to estimate the proportion of watery eye patients in whom the vision-related quality of life (VR-QOL) is affected. We conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. Patients who complained of watering for more than one month were included. All the patients were asked to fill a VR-QOL questionnaire. We considered VR-QOL status to be affected if the score for any of the activity listed in the questionnaire was more than or equal to one. We assessed the association of this VR-QOL status with various factors like age, gender, laterality, patency of nasolacrimal duct and Munk score. A total of 59 patients participated in our study. The mean age of study participants was 52.6 ± 13.8 years and 31 were males. VR-QOL was affected in 89.8% and blurring of vision was the most common impairment. The effect of gender and age on VR-QOL due to watering was not significant. We found that watering of eyes causes a significant blurring of vision (p value=0.031) and discomfort during outdoor activities (p-value 0.045). : Epiphora has a significant impact on VR-QOL. The lacrimal drainage system is the major cause of watery eyes. It is important to include the functional component in the outcome assessment of epiphora treatment.