Posters

Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) for dry eye disease: IPL + meibomial gland expression versus exclusive use of IPL

Poster Details

First Author: Y.Moreira BRAZIL

Co Author(s):    L. Moreira   C. Moreira Neto   L. Domingues   R. Girio           

Abstract Details

Purpose:

It is known that the treatment of dry eye with LIP is used in cases of dysfunction of the meibomial glands. LIP acts in some ways: the heat absorbed by the skin dissolves the secretions that obstruct the glands, eliminates the problematic flora (bactericidal action), and there is still action on the trigeminal nerve, activating the aqueous production of the tear. The expression of the meibomial glands is painful and makes it difficult for patients to adhere, so we compared the effect of LIP + expression with the exclusive use of LIP, in order to analyze the need for it.

Setting:

This study was based on clinical examination, tear osmolarity test and application of intense pulsed light, in Hospital de Olhos do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil.

Methods:

Fifteen patients were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. These were randomly divided into: group 1 - LIP + expression of the meibomial glands and group 2 - LIP. Each patient made 3 LIP applications, one application per month. Then, the BUT (break up time) and tear osmolarity were used in each application, to evaluate the improvement of the disease.

Results:

The results showed that all patients obtained significant improvements in the treatment of dry eye. When comparing pre-LIP with post 3 applications of LIP, with or without expression of the meibomial glands, the BUT was the parameter that stood out, with significant improvement (p = 0.002) and still improving osmolarity in all patients. When comparing the group that performed the IPL + gland expression with the group that only performed the IPL, there was no significant difference between the groups, both in osmolarity and in the BUT.

Conclusions:

We conclude that the use of IPL improves the quality of the tear and the time it remains on the ocular surface. In addition, we noticed that the exclusive use of LIP proved to be sufficient, without to expose patients to painful meibomial gland expression. The results of the study is positive. However, it still opens space for complementary studies of intense pulsed light in dry eye disease.

Financial Disclosure:

None