Joanne F. Shen, MD, director of the dry eye clinic at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Phoenix, Arizona, and a research team studied 35 patients treated with IPL/MGX. The team reviewed demographics, ocular histories, Standard Patient Evaluation of Eye Dryness 2 symptom survey scores, slit-lamp examinations, and meibomian gland evaluations at baseline and at each visit before IPL/MGX treatments.

In a retrospective study of patients with refractory dry eye who had exhausted conventional treatment and elected to receive intense pulsed light and meibomian gland expression (IPL/MGX), 58% of patients’ symptoms improved from as much as 25% to more than 50% after treatment.

The initial study results were published in Cornea in 2016.¹

According to a Mayo Clinic news release, Joanne F. Shen, MD, director of the dry eye clinic at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Phoenix, Arizona, and a research team studied 35 patients treated with IPL/MGX. The team reviewed demographics, ocular histories, Standard Patient Evaluation of Eye Dryness 2 (SPEED2) symptom survey scores, slit-lamp examinations, and meibomian gland evaluations at baseline and at each visit before IPL/MGX treatments.²

All patients had a minimum of 6 months of follow-up after the first treatment and typically received 1 to 4 treatments spaced 4 to 6 weeks apart.

After 4 IPL/MGX treatments, a paired sample t-test showed a significant (p < 0.0001) decrease in SPEED2:

• 8 patients (23%) had a ≥ 50% decrease in SPEED2 scores.
• 23 patients (66%) had a 1% to 49% decrease in SPEED2.
• 1 patient (3%) had no change in SPEED2.
• 3 patients (9%) had an increase in SPEED2.

“The combination of IPL and MGX can significantly improve dry eye symptoms — in this retrospective analysis, in 89% of patients — and meibomian gland function, which in this study improved in 77% of patients in at least one eye,” Shen said in the news release. “The study confirms that IPL treatment for meibomian gland dysfunction can improve dry eye symptoms and is a reasonable option for patients who have not shown improvement with other therapies.”

IPL/MGX procedure

At the initial treatment session, each patient underwent Fitzpatrick skin typing, with the intense pulsed light (IPL) device set to the appropriate level (1D, 2D, or 4A). During each treatment, both eyelids were bilaterally closed and secured with disposable eye shields, and a generous amount of ultrasonic gel was applied to the treatment area. Approximately 30 pulses were administered, with slight overlap, from the right preauricular area, across the cheeks and nose, to the left preauricular area, covering up to the inferior edge of the eye shields…..

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Source: Ophthalmology Times

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