Objective To explore the correlation of conjunctival impression cytology with acridine orange fluorescent staining (CICAO) with symptoms and signs of dry eye. Methods One hundred and fifty-two patients with dry eye (303 eyes) and 60 normal controls (120 eyes) were selected. The complaints of symptoms from patients with dry eye were collected, including dryness, foreign body sensation, burning sensation, red eye, excretion increase, heavy feeling in eyelid, asthenopia, photophobia, tearing, gargalesthesia, soreness and vibration in visual acuity. Schirmer I test (SIt), break-up time (BUT), fluorescein staining of the cornea (FL), Rose Bengal staining (RB) and CICAO were examined in all subjects. Spearman rank correlation method was employed to analyse the correlation of CICAO with symptoms of dry eye, SIt, BUT, FL and RB. Results CICAO was significantly related to dryness, tearing and soreness of symptoms of dry eye（r=0.337, r=－0.278, r=0.395；P＜0.05 for all), and CICAO was also significantly with RB, SIt, BUT and FL （r=0.757，r=－0.668，r=－0.549，r=0.428；P＜0.01 for all). Conclusion CICAO has relatively poor correlation with symptoms of dry eye, while is significantly related to RB, SIt, BUT and FL. CICAO may provide reliable evidences for diagnosis and treatment of dry eye.