Tear Meniscus Evaluation Using Optical Coherence Tomography in Meibomein Gland Dysfunction Patients

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study compared tear meniscus parameters between normal control, aqueous tear deficient dry eye, and meibomein gland dysfunction groups using Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT). METHODS: This study included 33 normal eyes, 79 aqueous tear-deficient dry eyes (ATD), and 48 meibomein gland dysfunction dry eyes (MGD). Following routine examination including Schirmer test, tear break-up time, corneal staining, and tear meniscus parameters such as tear meniscus height (TMH), tear meniscus depth (TMD), and tear meniscus area (TMA) were obtained using FD-OCT. The differences among groups were assessed. RESULTS: The averages of TMH, TMD, and TMA were 295.58 +/- 58.36 microm, 166.67 +/- 30.43 microm, and 0.0360 +/- 0.01100 mm2 in normal eyes, respectively, 226.43 +/- 42.18 microm, 147.44 +/- 38.38 microm, and 0.0209 +/- 0.01015 mm2 in ATD, respectively, 272.81 +/- 64.21 microm, 159.37 +/- 44.05 microm, and 0.0295 +/- 0.01271 mm2 in MGD, respectively. Tear meniscus parameters were significantly lower in ATD. Tear meniscus parameters in MGD were higher than ATD and lower than normal eyes, but the TMA was the only statistically significant value. CONCLUSIONS: Although tear meniscus parameters in MGD were higher than ATD, they could not be distinguished from normal eyes. Tear meniscus evaluation using FD-OCT could be a useful measurement system in classification and treatment choice for dry eye patients.