The Role of Meibography in the Diagnosis of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction in Ocular Surface Diseases

PURPOSE: To evaluate dysfunction in various ocular surface diseases (OSDs) including primary meibomian gland disease (MGD), perennial allergic conjunctivitis, and primary and secondary Sjögren syndromes. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 146 patients (111 women and 35 men) with symptomatic OSDs was performed. Patients were divided into two groups: the non-MGD group (55 patients) and the MGD group (91 patients). All patients had an evaluation of ocular surface symptoms and clinical tests, including tear film breakup time (BUT), the first and the mean noninvasive breakup time (NIKBUTf and NIKBUTavg, respectively). The meibomian gland loss of the lower eyelid was quantified using meibography and the meiboscale. RESULTS: There was no significant difference regarding age or sex ratio between the two groups. The meiboscale in the MGD group was significantly higher than that in the non-MGD group (P = 0.003). The non-MGD patients were more symptomatic than those in the MGD group (P = 0.043). There were no significant differences between MGD and non-MGD groups regarding a Schirmer test (P = 0.195), BUT (P = 0.719), NIKBUTf (P = 0.96), or NIKBUTavg (P = 0.70). In the whole population, there was a negative correlation between meiboscale and NIKBUT (r = −0.21, P = 0.02), but no other correlations were found. CONCLUSIONS: Meibomian gland dysfunction was observed among different OSDs. Meibomian gland loss evaluated by meibography might help identify MGD in patients suffering from OSD. TRANSLATION RELEVANCE: Meibography provides a better understanding of MGD in several OSD. It may be useful to integrate this objective analysis to improve treatments of OSD associated to MGD.