Abstract
Purpose :
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical effects of intense regulated pulsed light and changes in tear film thickness in dry eye patients.
Methods :
A retrospective study was conducted on 30 patients with meibomian gland dysfunction who had a subjective discomfort with dry eye and whose tear film breakdown time was less than 10 seconds. All patients were treated with intense regulated pulse light three times on day 1, 15, and 45 days. Tear film break up time, Schirmer’s 1 test, cornea staining score with fluorescein, the ocular surface disease index(OSDI) and lipid layer thickness were measured and compared before and after the procedure.
Results :
After the intense regulated pulse light, Tear film break up time was was increased from 3.58 ± 1.16 sec to 4.38 ± 2.12 sec and statistically significant.(P = 0.03) The Schirmer 1 test was increased from 2.61 ± 1.21 sec to 3.43 ± 1.53 sec and statistically significant (P <0.01), and the cornea staining score also ranged from 1.30 ± 0.57 sec to 1.03 ± 0.63 sec (P = 0.01). OSDI also showed a statistically significant improvement from 39.35 ± 17.25 points to 30.25 ± 18.33 points. Lipid layer thickness showed an increase pattern but there was no statistically significant difference.
Conclusions :
Intense regulated pulse light is an effective treatment modality to improve tear film breakdown time, Schirmer 1 test, cornea staining score, and subjective dry eye symptoms.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.