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Clinicians aim to standardize meibomian gland dysfunction therapy
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Treatment and management of meibomian gland dysfunction must be standardized, a speaker said at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting here.
Gerd Geerling, MD, PhD, was among several speakers to report preliminary findings and strategies of the International Workshop on Meibomian Gland Dysfunction.
"If our understanding of the pathophysiology and pharmacology improves in this disease, then we will have further options to treat it with pharmacologic approaches," Dr. Geerling said.
He pointed out broad variations in treatment patterns worldwide.
"There's a lot of under-reporting and under-diagnosis of the disease, which makes it difficult to assess treatment patterns and their success," he said.
Workshop members devised a four-stage rating of meibomian gland dysfunction treatment.
Stage one is a form of the disease in which there are no symptoms but only signs of disease. Stage two includes patients with symptoms that call for a wide variety of treatments, such as lubricants, lid supplements, fatty acids and steroids.
Stage three includes signs of complications with corneal involvement for which anti-inflammatories may be recommended. Stage four disease involves complications such as serious changes in the cornea or lid that require surgical intervention.
One of the most important group of papers presented at ARVO was by the International Workshop on Meibomian Gland Dysfunction. They presented several papers detailing a grading scheme for the diagnosis and management of meibomian gland dysfunction. Meibomian gland disease is one of the most common causes of ocular surface disease. However, it remains significantly underdiagnosed and undertreated. These papers will hopefully increase physician awareness of meibomian gland disease and help establish a standardized treatment protocol to aid clinicians in the management of this common disease.
– Eric D. Donnenfeld, MD
OSN
Cornea/External Disease Board Member
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