Sanchez, Victor, Kim, Colin K, Locatelli, Elyana V T et al. · Clinical & experimental ophthalmology · 2024 · DOI
Researchers studied eye dryness and discomfort in Gulf War veterans with ME/CFS and compared them to veterans without the condition. They found that people with ME/CFS reported significantly more eye pain and dryness symptoms, even though physical examination of their eyes showed similar amounts of tear production and surface damage as the control group. This suggests that the eye pain experienced by ME/CFS patients may come from causes beyond just dry eyes.
Dry eye and ocular pain are common but underrecognized symptoms in ME/CFS. This study provides objective evidence that these symptoms are real and distinct from typical dry eye disease, which could help validate patient experiences and potentially lead to better diagnostic criteria and treatment approaches tailored to ME/CFS-related eye problems.
This study does not establish the cause of increased ocular pain in ME/CFS—it only demonstrates that symptoms exceed what physical eye examination would predict. It cannot prove whether ocular pain is a primary ME/CFS feature or a secondary manifestation. The cross-sectional design prevents conclusions about whether eye symptoms develop before, after, or alongside ME/CFS onset.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Sanchez, Victor, Kim, Colin K, Locatelli, Elyana V T, Cohen, Adam K, Cabrera, Kimberly, Aenlle, Kristina, et al. (2024). Dry eye symptoms and signs in United States Gulf War era veterans with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.. Clinical & experimental ophthalmology. https://doi.org/10.1111/ceo.14313
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-sanchez-2024-dry-eye,
author = {Sanchez, Victor and Kim, Colin K and Locatelli, Elyana V T and Cohen, Adam K and Cabrera, Kimberly and Aenlle, Kristina and Klimas, Nancy G and O'Brien, Robert and Galor, Anat},
title = {Dry eye symptoms and signs in United States Gulf War era veterans with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Clinical & experimental ophthalmology},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1111/ceo.14313},
note = {PubMed: 37953685},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sanchez-2024-dry-eye},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sanchez-2024-dry-eye
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.