This study was conducted in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat (EENT) Hospital of Fudan University. The clinical trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on June 2019. The registration number is ChiCTR-1900023732. Fifty patients who experienced MGD were recruited from the EENT hospital from September 2019 to December 2019. According to consensus of The International Workshop on Meibomian Gland Dysfunction, MGD was confirmed by meibomian gland function examination by the same ophthalmology 1 (link), 10 (link).
The inclusion criteria for MGD based on DEWS II: OSDI score > 12.5 points, FBUT < 10 s; the presence of lid margin abnormalities, orifice abnormalities, and meibum abnormalities 1 (link), 10 (link). These MGD patients aged above 18 years old, who voluntarily participated in the experiment. Subjects with certain ocular diseases (acute ocular inflammation, obvious scar or keratinization in palpebral margin) or receiving physiotherapy for blepharitis (intense pulsed light, baby shampoo, and demodex blepharitis treatments) in the last 3 months may confound the study results; thus, they were excluded from the study. Subjects were also excluded if they had a related ocular surgery, including cataract surgery, trichiasis surgery, lachrymal duct obstruction, or refractive surgery in the past 3 months. After the procedure and potential consequences of the study were explained elaborately, informed consent was obtained from all subjects before the experiment.
At every follow-up, visual acuity, intraocular pressure and anterior segment were observed so as to ensure the safety of treatment. Subsequently, all participants received ocular surface examination including OSDI, meibomian gland expressibility (MGE), meibomian gland quality (MQ), lid margin, meibograde, fluorescein tear film break-up time (FBUT), non-invasive tear break-up time (NIKBUT), corneal fluorescein staining (CFS), Schirmer I test (SIT), tear meniscus height (TMH), lipid layer thickness (LLT) and incomplete blink rate (%).
The inclusion criteria for MGD based on DEWS II: OSDI score > 12.5 points, FBUT < 10 s; the presence of lid margin abnormalities, orifice abnormalities, and meibum abnormalities 1 (link), 10 (link). These MGD patients aged above 18 years old, who voluntarily participated in the experiment. Subjects with certain ocular diseases (acute ocular inflammation, obvious scar or keratinization in palpebral margin) or receiving physiotherapy for blepharitis (intense pulsed light, baby shampoo, and demodex blepharitis treatments) in the last 3 months may confound the study results; thus, they were excluded from the study. Subjects were also excluded if they had a related ocular surgery, including cataract surgery, trichiasis surgery, lachrymal duct obstruction, or refractive surgery in the past 3 months. After the procedure and potential consequences of the study were explained elaborately, informed consent was obtained from all subjects before the experiment.
At every follow-up, visual acuity, intraocular pressure and anterior segment were observed so as to ensure the safety of treatment. Subsequently, all participants received ocular surface examination including OSDI, meibomian gland expressibility (MGE), meibomian gland quality (MQ), lid margin, meibograde, fluorescein tear film break-up time (FBUT), non-invasive tear break-up time (NIKBUT), corneal fluorescein staining (CFS), Schirmer I test (SIT), tear meniscus height (TMH), lipid layer thickness (LLT) and incomplete blink rate (%).
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