Abstract
Purpose:
To determine the correlation between infrared meibography characteristics and ocular surface disease signs and symptoms.
Methods:
Thirty-six eyes from 18 patients were included. Fourteen (77.8%) patients were female; mean age was 40.83 years old (+/- 17.2, range 21-82). All patients underwent Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) and Dry Eye Questionnaire (DEQ-5) questionnaires. Corneal and conjunctival staining was evaluated by fluorescein and, lisamine green, then graded by the Oxford Schema. Tear Film Break Up Time (TFBUT), Schirmer I test with anesthesia and, margin lid characteristics were recorded. All patients were evaluated with an Infrared Meibography (Keratograph 4, OCULUS, Wetzlar, Germany). The following data was analyzed: meibomian gland area, meibomian gland area loss (MGAL), tortuosity and presence of white patches of upper and lower eyelid. Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were used as statistical analysis.
Results:
Mean OSDI score was 23.74 (+/-18.79, range 2.5-23.74), and mean DEQ-5 score 7.0 (+/-3.96, range 0-14). A positive correlation was found between: MGAL of upper lid and fluorescein corneal staining (r= 0.331, p = 0.048), MGAL of lower lid and TFBUT (upper lid r= -0.335, p = 0.046; lower lid r= -.342, p = 0.041), and MGAL and Schirmer test (upper lid r = -0.455, p = 0.007, lower lid r= -607, p= <0.001). Tortuosity was found in 36.1% of upper lid and 2.8% in lower lid. Two (5.6%) eyes have MGAL greater than a 33% in the upper lid, and 6 (16.7%) in the lower lid. No white patches were found in any patient. No correlation was found between symptoms (by OSDI and DEQ-5 questionnaires) and infrared Meibography characteristics (r = .120, p = .648, and r=.088, p = .737, respectively). Asymmetric disease by infrared Meibography was found in 38.8% (7) subjects.
Conclusions:
At list a third of subjects had an asymmetric disease. Positive correlation was found between infrared meibography and ocular surface disease signs. No correlation was found between meibography and symptoms.