What is the most accurate test for dry eye?

Schirmer Test: This is the current universal gold standard, but dry eyes is a very complex disease. There are newer ways to help diagnosis and focus treatments. This is a rapidly evolving area in ophthalmology.

Clinical or Schirmer: Dry eye can occur and exist in differing degrees of severity (which can also change) and as a result of an irregularity of any combination of the layers of the tear film (mucin layer, aqueous layer, lipid layer). Often a clinical diagnosis can be made with the use of an eye drop stain (such as florescein or rose bengal) or with a measurement called a schirmer's test. Other tests are less used.

Dry eye test: The most accurate test for dry eye is clinical history and slit lamp examination. Other tests for dry eye can be positive without symptoms and vice versa.