Clinical Efficacy of Microblepharoexfoliation in Meibomian Gland Dysfunction Patients

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#To assess the clinical efficacy of microblepharoexfolication using BlephEx™ (Scope Ophthalmics, London, UK) in meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) patients. @*Methods@#We performed a prospective study involving 48 eyes of 24 patients who were diagnosed with MGD. All patients were treated with BlephEx™ for 8-10 minutes, and the ocular surface disease index (OSDI), tear break-up time (TBUT), Schirmer’s I test, corneal staining score, lid margin abnormality, MGD score, and lipid thickness layer using the Lipiview II (TearScience, Morrisville, NC, USA) were assessed before treatment and after one month. @*Results@#Significant changes were observed after microblepharoexfoliation using BlephEx™. The TBUT improved from 2.65 ± 1.16 to 3.77 ± 1.80 after 1 month (p < 0.001) and the OSDI improved from 38.83 ± 17.13 to 18.67 ± 15.01 after 1 month (p < 0.001). Before and after 1 month of treatment, the lid margin abnormalities were 2.98 ± 1.16 and 2.50 ± 1.01 (p < 0.001) and the MGD scores were 21.60 ± 6.95 and 18.02 ± 6.68 (p = 0.001), respectively. @*Conclusions@#BlephEx™ improved the patients’ ocular surface symptoms, MGD score, and TBUT. Using steroid eye drops, there was a synergistic effect in improvement. Therefore, using BlephEx™ may be suggested as a treatment option for MGD patients.