Abstract
A concave liquid meniscus is always formed rather rapidly when the surface of a liquid film meets a solid surface that displays partial wetting, that is, the equilibrium contact angle is less than 90°.1 The same phenomenon is commonly witnessed in the climbing of liquids even against gravity in narrow capillaries and around wettable surfaces placed in a pool of liquid. Similar lacrimal menisci are observed around foreign surfaces (e.g., contact lenses) placed in the tear film, and also along the upper and lower eyelids.2 After eyelid opening, the border between a lacrimal meniscus and the tear film thins due to Laplace pressure or a “capillary-suction” engendered by the concave meniscus. Continued local thinning adjacent to the meniscus results in the appearance of a “black line” when a fluorescein-stained tear film is viewed under blue light.2
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Sharma, A., Tiwari, S., Khanna, R., Tiffany, J.M. (1998). Hydrodynamics of Meniscus-Induced Thinning of the Tear Film. In: Sullivan, D.A., Dartt, D.A., Meneray, M.A. (eds) Lacrimal Gland, Tear Film, and Dry Eye Syndromes 2. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 438. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5359-5_59
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5359-5_59
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