Meibomian Gland Morphology Changes After Cataract Surgery: A Contra-Lateral Eye Study

Risk Factors for Meibomian Gland Disease Assessed by Meibography

Purpose

To elucidate risk factors for meibomian gland disease (MGD) and understand associated changes in meibography and in relation to ocular surface disease.

Patients and Methods

As part of the standard workup for ocular surface disease at a tertiary academic center, 203 patients received an ocular history and lifestyle questionnaire. The questionnaire included detailed inquiries about ocular health and lifestyle, including makeup use, cosmetic eyelid procedures, screen time, and contact lens habits. Subjects also took the standardized patient evaluation of eye dryness (SPEED) II questionnaire. Meibomian gland (MG) dropout and structural changes were evaluated on meibography and scored by three independent graders using meiboscores. Statistical analysis was conducted to identify significant risk factors associated with MG loss.

Results

This retrospective, cross-sectional study included 189 patients (378 eyes) with high-quality images for grading, and the average age was 67 years (77% female). Patients older than 45 years had significantly more dropout than younger patients (p < 0.01). Self-reported eye makeup use did not significantly impact MG loss. Patients with a history of blepharoplasty trended toward higher meiboscores, but the difference was not statistically significant. Self-reported screen time did not affect meiboscores. Contact lens use over 20 years was associated with significant MG loss (p < 0.05). SPEED II scores had no relationship to meiboscores (p = 0.75).

Conclusion

Older age is a significant risk factor for MG loss. Any contact lens use over 20 years also impacted MG dropout. Highlighting the incongruence of symptoms to signs, SPEED II scores showed no relationship to the structural integrity of MGs.

Evaluation of the effect of eyelid disorder surgeries on tears and anterior segment parameters with meibography and corneal topography

Background/Aim: Abnormalities of eyelid shape, including ptosis, entropion, ectropion, lagophthalmos, and dermatochalasis, can occur at any age and affects the patient’s life quality, visual functions, and comfort. These abnormalities can be regarded as illnesses and can be cured medically and surgically. Meibomian glands are large sebaceous glands located in the lower and upper eyelids. Our study aimed to observe changes in anterior cornea segment parameters and meibomian glands of patients undergoing surgery for eyelid shape abnormalities. Methods: Our sample comprised 31 patients, who were operated on at Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University Hospital, were examined with respect to cornea topographic measurements and the drop-out of meibomian glands at the pre-operative and first-month post-operative processes and post-operative third month. In this prospective cohort method study, the surgical eyes of the patients were determined as the study group and the healthy eyes as the control group. Results: Surgical and healthy eyes of 31 patients were included in this study (N=62). The sample comprised 18 male and 13 female patients. The average age and standard deviation values of patients were determined as 66.50 (17.315) in males and 65.92 (13.714) (P = 0.659) in females. In terms of anterior cornea segment parameters (K1, K2, ACA, ACD, ACV, and CCT), no prominent differences were found in pre-operative and post-operative results (K1, K2, ACA, ACD, ACV, and CCT) in both the study and control groups. Meibography revealed that the increased meibomian gland drop-out of surgical eye measurements of pre- and post-operative was statistically significant (P < 0.001), whereas the change seen in healthy eyes was not statistically significant (P = 0.051). Furthermore, although the change through meibomian glands of entropion patients was not significant (P = 0.066), the drop-out of the meibomian gland of the other surgery cases (ptosis, ectropion, lagophthalmos, blepharoplasty, and dermatochalasis surgery) was found to be statistically significant (P = 0.038). Conclusion: Surgeries to correct abnormalities in eyelid shape can lead patients to meibomian gland drop-out. Pre-operative assessment of patients whose surgeries are planned, and post-operative monitoring, must be done meticulously in order to minimize the likelihood of symptoms and avoid meibomian gland dysfunction.

Alterations in the ocular surface and tear film following keratoplasty

The purpose of this study was to evaluate any alterations in the tear film and ocular surface beyond the early postoperative period following penetrating keratoplasty (PK) and deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK). This cross-sectional, contralateral-eye study compared ocular surface and tear film parameters of eyes with a previous PK or DALK in one eye and no prior surgery in the contralateral eye. Overall, 14 (87.5%) participants underwent PK, and 2 (12.5%) underwent DALK using a mechanical dissection. The median time from surgery was 3.4 years (range 1.5 to 38.7 years). The indication for unilateral keratoplasty was keratoconus in 15 (94%) participants, and corneal scarring in 1 (6%) eye, secondary to microbial keratitis. Operated eyes exhibited poorer non-invasive tear film breakup time, lower corneal sensitivity, lower sub-basal nerve density and more severe fluorescein staining scores than unoperated fellow eyes (all Q < 0.05). There were no significant differences in tear film lipid layer quality, tear meniscus height, conjunctival hyperaemia, lissamine green staining score, or meibography grade between operated and fellow eyes (all Q ≥ 0.20). Higher corneal esthesiometry threshold (lower corneal sensitivity) was correlated with shorter non-invasive tear film breakup time (Spearman’s rho =  − 0.361, p = 0.04) and increased fluorescein staining score (Spearman’s rho = 0.417, p = 0.02). Keratoplasty can induce persistent changes in the ocular surface and tear film, including: increased fluorescein staining, decreased tear film breakup time, decreased corneal sub-basal nerve plexus density, and reduced corneal sensitivity.