Lacrimal gland evaluation

Dry eye can result from a single phenomenon or as a secondary event associated with different types of antoimmnne diseases. The antoimmnne disease that is most closely associated with dry eye is Sjogren s syndrome, with the phenotype of the disease including CD4-i-T-cell infiltration into the lacrimal and submandibular glands. The MRL/lpr mouse, which contains a defective Fas receptor, has severe CD4-I- T-cell infiltration into the lacrimal gland. Female mice of this strain have more severe lacrimal gland cellular infiltration as compared with male mice. Animal models of dry eye that induce inflammation in the lacrimal functional unit in pathologic ways similar to that seen in humans provide a platform to evaluate the mechanisms of dry eye disease. 

Because sarcoidosis is not the most common cause of uveitis, all patients with uveitis of unknown cause need to be carefully evaluated. If a patient has a previous history of extraocular sarcoidosis, sarcoid eye involvement may be assumed if the patient has uveitis, lacrimal gland abnormalities, or conjunctivits that cannot be explained by an alternate mechanism (1). 

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