Ocular Surface disease indicators in make-up wearers

Abstract

Purpose : Make-up wear is a fairly tumultuous topic when it comes to its impact on ocular health. Past study in this area suggested that make-up wearers may be more symptomatic for dry eye as well as exhibit morphological Meibomian gland change. This study was developed to advance the knowledge base and to help evaluate whether make-up wearers exhibit symptoms of dry eye as well as further examine Meibomian gland morphology and function in make-up wearers.

Methods : This multi-clinic study looked at the results of questionnaires asking female patients to detail make up habits and self-evaluate their dry eye symptoms using validated questionnaires (OSDI, UNC and SPEED). All study participants also underwent infrared meibography of their upper and lower lids with various meibography imaging equipment (Lipiview 2, Oculus Keratograph 5M & Lipiscan). Clinicians were asked to grade Meibomian gland expression on a scale of 0-4 and Pult’s scale for gland atrophy was used to grade atrophied glands. A paired TTest was used to analyze the data set.

Results : Data was compiled from 5 different clinic sites. No males reported wearing make-up thus they were eliminated from the study. A total of 100 female eyes were tested (n=50) with the average age of Make-up (MU) users 55.8 and the average age of non-make-up users (NMU) 49.7. MU patients did report more dry eye symptoms on all dry eye symptom surveys than that of NMU patients. UNC mean was 3.85 (SD= 1.8) for MU mean of 2.5 (SD=2.2) in NMU, Mean SPEED scores for MU was 9.5 (SD=4.2) and NMU 5.6 (SD=6.3), OSDI mean was 23 in MU (SD= 13) and 10.2 in NMU (SD=13). All scores were statistically different between the 2 groups (p-values: UNC =0.017, OSDI=0.0014, SPEED=0.019). There was no significant difference in gland drop-out between the two patient groups however there was a significant difference in meibomian gland expression (p<0.001)

Conclusions : Make-up use is very common amongst patients in regular clinical practice. This study showed the importance of evaluating patients who report use of make-up for dry eye symptoms as well as Meibomian gland function. Use of make-up may be exacerbating dry eye symptomology and progression of ocular surface disease when it comes to Meibomian gland structure. Further study of particular make-up habits and their effect on Meibomian glands and ocular surface disease progression may help to gain additional insight of risk of disease in this patient population.

This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.