To evaluate the efficacy of Optical Quality Analysis System (OQAS®) instrument for the assessment of dry eye syndrome.

Dynamic recording of double-pass (DP) retinal images was performed in 1 eye dry eye patients (20 eyes) and in healthy controls (20 eyes) for 20 seconds after eye blinking.

The mean objective scatter Index (OSI) value was 4.53 in dry eyes, 0.67 in healthy eyes and the standard deviation of OSI was 1.20 in dry eyes and 1.18 in healthy eyes. The patients with dry eyes showed significantly higher mean OSI and standard deviation values. Ocular scatter increased over time and significant changes occurred 13.5 seconds after blinking. The difference in OSI value between 0 second and 20 seconds was significantly greater in dry eye patients (4.15) than in controls (0.32).

Ocular scatter increased over time after blinking. The dry eye patients had larger and more variable ocular scatter index than the controls. OQAS® may be useful to detect and follow-up tear film-related patient complaints in dry eye syndrome.