Prospective trial of intense pulsed light for the treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction.

.	Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2015 Feb 12. pii: IOVS-14-15764. doi: 10.1167/iovs.14-15764. [Epub ahead of print] Prospective trial of intense pulsed light for the treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction. Craig JP1, Chen YH2, Turnbull PR2. Author information:  1Department of Ophthalmology, University of Auckland, New Zealand National Eye Centre, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand jp.craig@auckland.ac.nz. 2Department of Ophthalmology, University of Auckland, Ocular Surface Laboratory, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Auckland, 1023, New Zealand. Abstract: Purpose: To evaluate the effect of intense pulsed light (IPL) applied to the periocular area for meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) in a prospective, double-masked, placebo-controlled, paired-eye study. Methods: Twenty-eight participants underwent IPL treatment (E>Eye, E-Swin, France), with homogeneously sequenced light pulses delivered to one eye and placebo treatment to the partner control eye at 1, 15, and 45 days following baseline (BL) evaluation. Lipid layer grade (LLG), non-invasive tear breakup time (NIBUT), tear evaporation rate (TER), tear meniscus height (TMH) and subjective symptom score (SPEED) were compared to BL and control values at each visit. Results: LLG improved significantly from BL to Day 45 in the treated eye (p<0.001), but not the control eye (p=0.714) with 82% of treated eyes improving by at least one LLG. NIBUT also improved significantly from BL to Day 45 in the treated (p<0.001), but not control eye (p=0.056), and was significantly longer than in the treated eye at Day 45 (14.1 ± 9.8s vs 8.6 ± 8.2s, p<0.001). TER was not significantly lower at Day 45 compared to BL in the control eye (p=0.165), but approached significance in the treated eye (p = 0.080). TMH does not change from BL in either eye (p>0.05). SPEED scores improved at each visit in both the treated (p<0.001) and control eye (p=0.002), with 86% of participants noting reduced symptoms in the treated eye by Day 45. Conclusions: IPL with multiple sculpted pulses shows therapeutic potential for MGD, improving tear film quality and reducing symptoms of dry eye. Copyright © 2015 by Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.
	PMID: 25678687 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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