Religious fasting alters IOP, tear secretion levels

Researchers compared IOP, basal tear secretion (BTS), reflex tear secretion (RTS) and corneal and anterior chamber parameters of 31 healthy volunteers during and one-month after Ramadan fasting. They found that fluid loading at the pre-dawn meal during Ramadan significantly increased IOP, BTS and RTS measurements. These values decrease remarkably at the end of 12 hours of fasting due to dehydration. IOP showed a diurnal variation of 2.45 mmHg (P<0.001) and BTS showed a 3.06 mm decrease (P=0.04) during the fasting period. No significant differences could be found in the corneal and anterior chamber parameters during fasting and non-fasting periods.