Three dimensional meibography for diagnosis of dry eye syndrome

Purpose The dysfunction of meibomian glands which secrete components of lipid layer in tears is currently pointed out as one of the main causes occurring dry eye. The distribution of that is more than 70% in Asian, especially. This brought out the importance for the dysfunction of meibomian glands. Our study was aimed to confirm the efficacy of 3D meibography to evaluate the structures of meibomian glands. Methods This study is a cross sectional study for patients who had diagnosed as dry eye disease associated with the dysfunction of meibomian glands at Seoul Saint Mary's Hospital from July to October, 2014. To confirm the structure of dry eye patients, 3D images using 3D OCT (optical coherence tomography) and 2D images using infrared camera were obtained. Patients who had the drop‐out lesion in 3D and 2D images were divided as two groups, and differences between them were analyzed. At the same time, to find the clinical signification for structural changes of meibomian glands, all patients had an ocular surface and a tear function examination to define the degree of dry eye. Results As compared between 3D and 2D images for dry eye patients who had the drop‐out lesion on meibomian glands, 3D images was more useful for diagnosis of dry eye than 2D, especially in dry eye related with mild meibomian gland disease. Conclusions Our study confirmed that the structural change of meibomian glands was reflected in optical coherence tomography 3D images. Especially, 3D meibography was more powerful than 2D infrared camera to find out the real state of drop‐out lesion on meibomian glands. But, there was no statistical significance between the location of drop‐out lesions; such as near lid margin, middle area, near superior conjunctival fornix, and clinical features in these study.