Abstract
Purpose: :
To report the findings of the change in tear meniscus area and tear volume as measured by Optical coherence tomography (OCT) before and after treatment for posterior blepharitis.
Methods: :
Patients with combined posterior and anterior blepharitis used warm compress twice daily with lid hygiene and topical azithromycin ophthalmic solution 1% (AzaSite®; Inspire Pharmaceutical, Inc, NC) before going to bed. There were 44 eyes of 22 patients diagnosed with combined anterior and posterior blepharitis in this study. Optical coherence tomography images of the inferior tear meniscus were captured prior to treatment, and after 3-4 weeks of treatment. Four images were captured per eye during each session. Ten normal controls (n=20 eyes) without blepharitis were used. Two sets of OCT images for the control group were captured two weeks apart.
Results: :
After approximately one month of treatment for combined anterior and posterior blepharitis, there was significant increase in the area of inferior tear meniscus. Statistical analysis indicated a difference in the area of the inferior tear meniscus prior to treatment (M = 0.056, SD = 0.071) compared to following treatment (M = 0.90, SD = 0.083) (p<0.001). Results indicated no significant difference (p = 0.92) in the area of the inferior tear meniscus for the control group when measured for the first set of images (M = 0.07, SD = 0.03) and second set taken two weeks later (M = 0.07, SD = 0.03). Statistical analyses indicated a significant difference when comparing the area of the inferior tear meniscus of the controls at week 1 to patients before treatment began (p < 0.001). When comparing the controls at 2 weeks to the subjects after treatment ended, there was no significant difference in the area of the inferior tear meniscus (p = 0.24).
Conclusions: :
Warm compress combined with lid hygiene and azithromycin ophthalmic solution 1% (AzaSite®; Inspire Pharmaceutical, Inc, NC, USA) proved to be an effective treatment for combined posterior and anterior blepharitis. This treatment had a beneficial effect in evaporative dry eye with secondary increase in tear meniscus and hence tear volume.____________________________________________________________
Keywords: cornea: clinical science