Morphological Evaluation of Meibomian Glands in Children and Adolescents Using Noncontact Infrared Meibography

PURPOSE: To compare, in vivo, differences in meibomian gland morphology between children and adolescents. METHODS: Sixty-nine patients were included in this study and divided into two groups: children (n = 31; age range: 3 to 11 years) and adolescents (n = 39; age range: 12 to 18 years). Images of meibomian glands were obtained by infrared meibography and analyzed using ImageJ software (developed by the National Institutes of Health; available at http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/download.html). Meibomian gland loss, the number of meibomian gland ducts, the relative width of the meibomian gland ducts, and the percent area of the meibomian gland acini were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Meibomian gland loss was found in both groups, but the meiboscore was not significantly different between the two groups (0.35 ± 0.6 vs 0.41 ± 0.8, t = -0.314, P > .05). The number of meibomian gland ducts (25.85 ± 3.25 vs 23.23 ± 3.06, t = -3.437, P < .05), relative width of the meibomian gland ducts (69.62% ± 5% vs 66.1% ± 7%, t = -2.454, P < .05), and percent area of the meibomian gland acini (57.7% ± 4% vs 55.5% ± 4%, t = 2.571, P < .05) in the upper eyelid were significantly greater in adolescents than in children. However, no significant differences were found in the lower eyelid between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Meibography is useful for the assessment of ocular surface conditions in children and adolescents. Meibomian gland loss occurs in both children and adolescents. The meibomian glands of the upper eyelid exhibit more morphological changes in adolescents than in children. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 2017;54(2):78-83.].