Posters

Tolerability, acceptance, and effectiveness of the MeiboPatch among patients with Meibomian gland-related dry eye syndrome

Poster Details

First Author: A.Ansari UK

Co Author(s):    A. Thomas   G. Williams                 

Abstract Details

Purpose:

Dry eye syndrome is characterized by a loss of homeostasis of the tear film resulting in persistent dryness of both the cornea and conjunctiva. Meibomian gland dysfunction(MGD) is thought to be a major source of dry eye. Despite concerns of poor compliance and tolerability, traditional therapies for MGD include meibomian gland warming treatment. The Meibopatch(VISUfarma International) is amongst the newest devices aimed to improve treatment compliance and provide assistance for eyelid warming therapies. The long-term acceptance and effectiveness of this device has yet to be demonstrated amongst the subgroup of patients with posterior blepharitis, a condition highly associated with MGD.

Setting:

Singleton Hospital, Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom

Methods:

Patients above the age of 18 with a diagnosis of blepharitis by an opthalmologiost, and who were symptomatic despite one or more previous interventions were recruited at clinic appointments at Singleton Hospital, Swansea, UK. Patients with any ocular surface disorder were excluded.  Patients were asked to self-administer Meibopatch treatment as directed by the manufacturer for 4 weeks.  Patients completed the ocular surface disease index (OSDI) questionnaire to assess symptoms at baseline and after 4 weeks of treatment. Patients were also invited to answer additional questions regarding acceptability and tolerability of the Meibopatch

Results:

43 patients were recruited in this study.  The baseline pre-treatment OSDI score ± SD(Standard deviation) of all patients was 47.9±16.4.  The post-treatment OSDI value + SD of all patients was 37.7±14.9. Assessment of the mean difference between pre and post treatment OSDI scores was found to be significant(p=0.0005), suggesting improvement in symptoms over the four-month assessment period. These findings differed from our assessment of acceptability, and overall patient satisfaction with Meibopatch, whereby the majority of patients stated they did not find the treatment effective and would not continue to use the treatment if they were required to purchase from pharmacy.

Conclusions:

Results of this study suggest that Meibopatch is a safe therapy for the treatment of DES.  The effectiveness of this therapy is contentious as the significant reduction in symptoms noted from the ODSI scores are not reflective of the patient reported outcomes concerning satisfaction and effectiveness. Future efforts are needed to establish 1) the validity of OSDI in patients with blepharitis, and 2) patient important outcomes in the field of DES.

Financial Disclosure:

None