Fine dust and eye health

Soo Youn Choi; Youngsub Eom; Jong Suk Song; Hyo Myung Kim

doi:10.5124/jkma.2019.62.9.486

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Choi, Eom, Song, and Kim: Fine dust and eye health

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J Korean Med Assoc 2019;62(9):486-494.

Published online: 17 September 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2019.62.9.486

Fine dust and eye health

Soo Youn Choi, MD, Youngsub Eom, MD, Jong Suk Song, MD, Hyo Myung Kim, MD

Department of Ophthalmology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding author: Youngsub Eom E-mail: eomy@korea.ac.kr

Received 13 August 2019 Accepted 10 September 2019

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This paper aims to make recommendations for the management of eye health related to fine dust exposure. Fine dust is one of the biggest problems related to air pollution in Korea and is becoming a social issue. Fine dust can be classified into fine dust, ultrafine dust, and nanoparticles according to the size of the constituent particles. Although studies evaluating the harmful effects of particulate matter (PM) have been conducted mainly on cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, the ocular surface is a tissue that is continuously exposed to the atmosphere. Eye symptoms caused by PM exposure include eye redness, irritation, and sensation of a foreign body. Typical eye diseases caused by PM exposure include conjunctivitis, dry eye disease, and blepharitis. PM is thought to induce and exacerbate ocular surface diseases and lead to damage through oxidative stress, toxicity, and immune and inflammatory reactions on the ocular surface. For eye health management related to PM exposure, it is necessary to reduce the chance of exposure to PM in advance according to the PM forecast, avoid additional repeated exposure after PM exposure, and remove PM through eye washing and eyelid cleaning. In addition, eye drops, such as artificial tears, diquafosol, and cyclosporin A, can be used to prevent and treat ocular surface disease and deterioration of the damage. In patients who already have ocular surface disease, the harmful effects of PM exposure may be greater and more attention should be paid to eye health management.

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Keywords: Air pollution, Environment, Dust, Eye, Health

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Figure 1.

Layers of the tear film.

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Table 1.

Forecasts depending on the level of fine dust concentration

Concentration of fine dust (μg/m ³ · day)	Good	Normal	Bad	Very bad
PM¹⁰	0-30	31-80	81-150	≥151
PM^2.5	0-15	16-30	36-75	≥76

PM¹⁰, particulate matter less than 10 µm in diameter; PM^2.5, particulate matter less than 2.5 µm in diameter.

Table 2.

Watch/warning messages depending on the level of fine dust concentration

Cate	egory	Watch	Warning
PM¹⁰	Issue	When an hourly average PM¹⁰ concentration of more than 150 μg/m³	When an hourly average PM¹⁰ concentration of more than 300 μg/m³
		continues for more than 2 hours	continues for more than 2 hours
	Clear	When an hourly average PM¹⁰ concentration is less than 100 μg/m³	When an hourly average PM¹⁰ concentration is less than 150 μg/m³
PM^2.5	Issue	When an hourly average PM^2.5 concentration of more than 75 μg/m³	When an hourly average PM^2.5 concentration of more than 150 μg/m³
		continues for more than 2 hours	continues for more than 2 hours
	Clear	When an hourly average PM^2.5 concentration is less than 35 μg/m³	When an hourly average PM^2.5 concentration is less than 75 μg/m³

PM¹⁰, particulate matter less than 10 µm in diameter; PM^2.5, particulate matter less than 2.5 µm in diameter.

Table 3.

Seven action plans on high concentration fine dust

Action plans to protect health from fine dust exposure
Avoid going out as much as possible
Minimizing outdoor activities such as outdoor gatherings, camping, and sports
Wear a health mask (KFDA certification) when going out
Avoid places with heavy air pollution when going out and reduce activity
Reduce stay time on roadsides and construction sites with high concentration of fine dust
Reduce intense external activity that may cause inhalation of fine dust by increases breathing volume
Clean after going out
Wash your body in every corner, especially your hands, feet, eyes and nose in running water
Brush your teath
Eat fruits and vegetables rich in water and vitamin C
Drink plenty of water, antioxidants, fruits and vegetables
Manage indoor air quality such as ventilation and indoor water cleaning
Properly ventilate considering indoor and outdoor air pollution
Perform water cleaning such as wiping indoors, operate the air purifier, periodically check and replace the air purifier filter
Suppress air pollution inducement
Use public transportation instead of driving a car and suppress the act of burning waste
KFDA, Korea Food and Drug Administration.

Table 4.

Fine dust and eye health care

Action plans to protect eye heath from fine dust exposure
Reduce the chance of exposure to high concentration of fine dust in advance according to fine dust forecast system
Avoid repeated exposures when exposed to high levels of fine dust
Wash eyes with artificial tears and clean eyelids when exposed to high-concentration fine dust
Use eye drops to manage eye health (artificial tears, diquafosol, and cyclosporine)
Eat antioxidants, fruits, vegetables and omega-3s
Pay more attention to fine dust exposure and eye health care if you have ocualar surface disease

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