Qualitative analysis and clinical implications of lipid layer thickness variability: A retrospective, cross-sectional study
Jiyoung Emily Lee, Dong-Kyu Kim, Hye Yeon Yoon, Woong-Joo Whang, Ho Sik Hwang, Hyun-Seung Kim, Reiko Arita, Eun Chul Kim, Kyung-Sun Na, Nick Fogt, Nick Fogt, Nick Fogt · 2026
Read Qualitative analysis and clinical implications of lipid layer thickness variability: A retrospective, cross-sectional study by Jiyoung Emily Lee, Dong-Kyu Kim, Hye Yeon Yoon, Woong-Joo Whang, Ho Sik Hwang, Hyun-Seung Kim, Reiko Arita, Eun Chul Kim, Kyung-Sun Na, Nick Fogt, Nick Fogt, Nick Fogt (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13577391.txt.
Description
Jiyoung Lee and co-authors look past a single average when judging the tear film's oil layer in a 2026 study. A healthy lipid layer slows tear evaporation, and glands along the eyelid supply it. A clinic device reports that layer's thickness, but values at the top of its range are ceiling readings, not exact measures. Two eyes with the same average might behave very differently second by second.
The team re-read twenty-second recordings from eyes in that top range. Two masked observers sorted the traces by how much the thickness wobbled. They then compared the wobble patterns against gland shape and eye surface findings. Variability, the authors argue, may carry clinical meaning the average hides. The study is retrospective, drawn from clinic records at one center.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Jiyoung Emily Lee, Dong-Kyu Kim, Hye Yeon Yoon, Woong-Joo Whang, Ho Sik Hwang, Hyun-Seung Kim, Reiko Arita, Eun Chul Kim, Kyung-Sun Na, Nick Fogt, Nick Fogt, Nick Fogt |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 65 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |