Yae’Shawn Butler
Research Mentor: Lindsey De Lott
Mentor Department: Neurology and Ophthalmology, Medicine
Author(s): Not Available
Session: Session 1 (9:00 AM – 9:50 AM)
Presentation Type: Poster 82
Abstract
Despite extensive clinical research on chronic ocular surface pain (COSP), the patient’s subjective experience of pain often appears disconnected from objective clinical signs. The prevailing narrative in the literature characterizes COSP as unexplained symptom reporting, which can delay the diagnosis and treatment. This study seeks to determine if individuals with more symptoms than signs have features of amplified/dysfunctional pain processing in the central nervous system (CNS; i.e., nociplastic pain), similar to other nociplastic conditions, such as fibromyalgia. Using a prospective, observational design, we are collecting clinical and neurobiological data on 40 patients with COSP and 40 controls (20 health, 20 fibromyalgia). These data add crucial biological nuance to our understanding of what patients with COSP are experiencing and will allow us to define the nociplastic phenotype in patients with COSP. Our study is part of a growing body of mechanistic pain research in ophthalmology. Our data will ultimately support a comprehensive treatment approach for patients with COSP tailored to the relevant mechanisms.
