Intense pulsed-light treatment improves objective optical quality in patients with meibomian gland dysfunction

BMC Ophthalmol. 2023 Apr 28;23(1):191. doi: 10.1186/s12886-023-02939-9.

Abstract

Background: To evaluate changes in objective optical quality following intense pulsed light (IPL) treatment combined with meibomian gland (MG) expression (MGX) in patients with MG dysfunction (MGD).

Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study included MGD-related dry eye disease (DED) patients who received IPL treatment between March and December 2021 at Kim's Eye Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Each patient underwent four sessions of IPL treatment using Lumenis M22 (Lumenis Ltd., Yokneam, Israel) and MGX at three-week intervals.

Results: This study included 90 eyes from 45 patients with MGD. The mean age was 52.3 ± 16.1 years (range, 20-75 years), and 53.3% (24/45) of patients were female. Compared with the baseline, all clinical symptoms and signs significantly improved after IPL treatment combined with MGX. All optical quality parameters obtained with an optical quality analysis system (OQAS: Visiometrics, Castelldefels, Spain) have improved significantly over the baseline (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: In patients with MGD, IPL treatment combined with MGX improved the objective optical quality and clinical signs and symptoms of DED.

Keywords: Dry eye disease; Intense pulsed light; Meibomian gland dysfunction; Optical quality analysis; Quality of vision.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Dry Eye Syndromes* / metabolism
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Meibomian Gland Dysfunction* / therapy
  • Meibomian Glands / diagnostic imaging
  • Meibomian Glands / metabolism
  • Middle Aged
  • Phototherapy
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Tears / metabolism