ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Comparative and Clinical Medicine
This article is part of the Research TopicBiomarkers of Health and Disease in Veterinary Science - Volume IIView all 10 articles
Tear film characteristics in French Bulldogs vs non-brachycephalic dogs
Provisionally accepted
- 1Animal Eye Practice, Berlin, Germany
- 2LMU Munich, Clinic for Small Animal Surgery and Reproduction, Munich, Germany
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Purpose To investigate the tear film characteristics of healthy French Bulldogs and compare them with healthy dogs of mesocephalic and dolichocephalic breeds. Methods French Bulldogs and non-brachycephalic dogs considered healthy underwent a complete ophthalmic examination. Tear osmolarity was tested with the ScoutPro® osmolarity system and a tear film analysis, including interferometry, non-invasive tear film break-up time (NIBUT), tear meniscus height measurement (TMH) and meibography using the I.C.P. OSA-Vet® was performed. Results French Bulldogs had a significantly higher Schirmer Tear Test I (19.05 ± 4.00 vs. 16.88 ± 3.54, p=0.017), a higher TMH (0.64 ± 0.20 vs. 0.31 ± 0.22, p=9x10-10), a lower interferometry grading and a reduced NIBUT (7.39 ± 3.32 vs. 14.74 ± 5.92, p=3.5x10-9) compared to the control group. Differences in tear osmolarity were not statistically significant between the groups (296.6 ± 13.6 vs. 299.8 ± 16.1, p=0.40). Conclusion The tear film in healthy French Bulldogs shows signs of a qualitative tear film deficiency/evaporative dry eye disease (EDED) compared to non-brachycephalic dogs. The influence of the altered tear film on diseases of the ocular surface in French Bulldogs needs to be further investigated.
Keywords: Brachycephalic dogs, Evaporative dry eye disease, Ocular surface health, tearfilm, tear film diagnostics
Received: 25 Oct 2025; Accepted: 25 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Spornberger, Soukup, Meyer-Lindenberg and Allgoewer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Joschka Spornberger
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.