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Purpose: To compare the efficacy and safety profile of oral azithromycin with that of doxycycline over 9 months in patients experiencing failure with conservative and topical treatment for Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), to assess recurrence of MGD, and to determine the number of treatments required. Methods: This is a randomized controlled trial with a cross-over design at a tertiary care center. In all, 115 consecutive patients underwent a complete ophthalmological examination before being randomly assigned to oral treatment with doxycline (4 g for 30 days) or azithromycin (1.25 g for 5 days). Patients were evaluated at 3, 6, and 9 months. Therapy was switched or conservative management maintained according to signs and symptoms. Results: In the azithromycin group, 83.25% of the patients were stable after one treatment, 16.5% needed a further one or two treatments (some had previously been switched to doxycycline), and 5.77% did not improve despite treatment. In the doxycycline group, 33.79% of patients were stable after one treatment, 66.21% needed a further one or two treatments (some had previously switched to azithromycin), and 29.41% did not improve despite treatment (P < 0.05). Minimal gastrointestinal adverse effects (nausea, diarrhea, abdominal cramp, and decreased appetite) were reported, mostly unchanged at the follow-up visits. At the first visit, more adverse effects were reported in the doxycycline group (14/51, 24%) than in the azithromycin group (3/52, 6%; P < 0.005). Conclusion: Both antibiotics were effective and safe for treating patients with persistent MGD, although azithromycin was superior when the reduced dose and the shorter course of therapy (5 days vs. 4 weeks) were taken into consideration. Given the chronic nature of the disease and the improvement in some signs with minimal adverse effects, a shorter therapy seems a safer and more logical alternative to longer regimens.
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Purpose: To correlate the severity of meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) with the serum lipoprotein levels. Methods: The study was conducted as a prospective observational study over a period of 18 months. Ninety patients diagnosed with MGD were enrolled after they gave their informed consent according to the inclusion–exclusion criteria. Meibomian gland status was evaluated by meibum quality, expressibility, and numerical scoring. Lipid profile was done from an overnight fasting blood sample and evaluated for total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides (TGs). Results: Patients with higher stages of MGD more often had serum TGs >150 mg/dL, total cholesterol >200 mg/dL, an LDL >130 mg/dL, and serum HDL >40 mg/dL, and there exists an association between increasing stage of MGD, and age, female sex, and increasing values of all the lipid profile components. Conclusion: A very strong association exists between increasing age and increasing severity of stage of MGD. A positive association exists between female sex and increasing severity of stage of MGD. A positive association exists between increasing severity of MGD and increasing levels of all the components of lipid profiles, namely LDL, HDL, total cholesterol, and triglycerides.
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PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of preoperative meibomian gland disease (MGD) on the postoperative dry eye disease after cataract surgery. METHODS: 100 eyes of 85 patients who had undergone cataract surgery were enrolled. Patients were stratified into three groups by the severity of meibomian gland disease (MGD Grade I, MGD Grade II and MGD Grade III). In each group, we recorded the indexes of dry eye such as Ocular surface disease index, tear breakup time, Schirmer's test and Corneal staining at preoperatively and postoperative week 1, 2, 5, 9. We compared the indexes, preoperatively and postoperatively between three groups. RESULTS: In comparison of the preoperative indexes between groups, the more severe meibomian gland disease the patients have, the higher Ocular surface disease index and the shorter tear breakup time were observed (p < 0.05). In comparison the preoperative with the postoperative indexes, Ocular surface disease index was higher and tear breakup time was shorter at every postoperative moment in MGD Grade (Gr) II and Gr III. In comparison between MGD groups, MGD Gr III showed higher ocular surface disease index than MGD Gr I and Gr II at every follow up point, and shorter tear breakup time than MGD Gr I and Gr II at preoperative and postoperative week 1 and 9 (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The severity of meibomian gland disease which exist preoperatively can affect the aggravation of dry eye disease after cataract surgery. Therefore, the treatment of meibomian gland disease before cataract surgery can be a therapeutic option to prevent aggravation of dry eye after cataract surgery.