Rare diseases · Sign or symptom
Keratoconjunctivitis sicca
Dry eyes
HP:0001097
What it means
Dryness of the eye related to deficiency of the tear film components (aqueous, mucin, or lipid), lid surface abnormalities, or epithelial abnormalities. Keratoconjunctivitis sicca often results in a scratchy or sandy sensation (foreign body sensation) in the eyes, and may also be associated with itching, inability to produce tears, photosensitivity, redness, pain, and difficulty in moving the eyelids.
Rare diseases that can present with this38
Common30–79%
13- Antisynthetase syndrome
- Cerebello-oculo-facio-genital syndrome
- Chronic graft versus host disease
- Darier disease
- Hereditary ATTR amyloidosis
- Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia
- Idiopathic small fibers neuropathy
- Isolated aniridia
- KID syndrome
- Lacrimoauriculodentodigital syndrome
- Mixed connective tissue disease
- Reynolds syndrome
- Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis spectrum
The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.
Part of the broader category
Also called: Dry eye syndrome · Keratitis sicca · Xerophthalmia
Tracking symptoms like this for someone? Eleplan keeps symptoms, diagnoses, medications and every specialist in one plan.
Start free with EleplanThis page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.