Table 2

Clinical and impression cytology measurements of the eyes of subjects randomised to treatment and control groups at baseline, day 7 and day 14. Data are presented as mean±SD or median (IQR). Impression cytology measurements are reported as calibrated normalised relative quantity

	Treated eye (n=25)	Control eye (n=25)	p Value
Best corrected visual acuity (logMAR)
Baseline	−0.05±0.07	−0.06±0.07	0.54
Day 7	−0.06±0.07	−0.06±0.06	0.88
Day 14	−0.07±0.06	−0.07±0.06	0.92
p	0.12	0.52
Eyelid itching grade
Baseline	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	>0.99
Day 7	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	0.55
Day 14	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	0.55
p	0.82	0.38
Eyelid pain grade
Baseline	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	>0.99
Day 7	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	0.25
Day 14	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	>0.99
p	0.81	0.77
Bulbar conjunctival hyperaemia score (out of 4)
Baseline	0.6±0.3	0.6±0.3	0.48
Day 7	0.6±0.3	0.6±0.3	0.19
Day 14	0.6±0.2	0.5±0.2	0.27
p	0.18	0.68
Palpebral erythema score (out of 4)
Baseline	0.3±0.3	0.3±0.3	0.60
Day 7	0.2±0.2	0.2±0.2	0.72
Day 14	0.2±0.2	0.2±0.2	0.97
p	0.83	0.21
Sodium fluorescein staining score (out of 55)
Baseline	2.3±2.1	2.4±2.3	0.96
Day 7	2.6±1.9	2.0±1.8	0.09
Day 14	2.0±1.8	1.8±1.6	0.83
p	0.22	0.48
Lissamine green staining score (out of 55)
Baseline	1.1±0.9	1.2±0.9	0.98
Day 7	0.9±0.8	1.0±0.8	0.99
Day 14	1.2±0.9	0.6±0.4	0.10
p	0.51	0.21
Lid wiper epitheliopathy grade
Baseline	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	0.91
Day 7	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	0.83
Day 14	0 (0–0)	0 (0–0)	0.20
p	0.90	0.28
Tear film lipid layer grade
Baseline	3 (2–4)	3 (2–4)	0.86
Day 7	3 (2–4)	3 (2–4)	0.98
Day 14	3 (2–5)	3 (2–4)	0.29
p	0.71	0.21
Tear evaporation rate (g/m²/h)
Baseline	60±35	54±27	0.22
Day 7	60±32	59±31	0.99
Day 14	47±24	46±25	0.98
p	0.14	0.23
Non-invasive tear film break-up time (s)
Baseline	11.9±8.1	13.7±10.8	0.73
Day 7	13.7±11.6	12.0±8.8	0.68
Day 14	14.3±11.5	12.7±9.0	0.86
p	0.76	0.53
Tear film osmolarity (mOsmol/L)
Baseline	301±12	307±21	0.28
Day 7	307±18	304±10	0.90
Day 14	303±19	303±17	>0.99
p	0.50	0.26
Tear meniscus height (mm)
Baseline	0.26±0.13	0.27±0.12	0.78
Day 7	0.27±0.12	0.26±0.08	0.87
Day 14	0.27±0.12	0.25±0.08	0.49
p	0.93	0.24
MMP-9 expression
Baseline	6.54±13.53	13.42±42.23	0.37
Day 14	9.27±22.46	8.52±19.09	0.80
p	0.93	0.58
IL-6 expression
Baseline	5.18±6.94	2.91±4.16	0.85
Day 14	3.89±5.93	10.68±22.75	0.12
p	0.89	0.11
MUC5AC expression
Baseline	906.3±857.4	940.3±745.5	0.65
Day 14	725.7±738.3	1196.7±1455.2	0.43
p	0.32	0.75

IL-6, interleukin-6; MMP-9, matrix metalloproteinase-9; MUC5AC, mucin-5AC.