Meibomian glands visibility assessment through a new quantitative method.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to develop a new objective semiautomatic method for analysing Meibomian glands visibility quantitatively.

METHODS

One hundred twelve healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 90 years (48.29 ± 27.46 years) participated in this study. Infrared meibography was obtained from the right upper eyelid through Oculus Keratograph 5 M. Meibographies were classified into 3 groups: Group 1 = patients with good subjective glands visibility and a gland dropout percentage < 1/3 of the total Meibomian gland area; Group 2 = patients with low subjective glands visibility and a gland dropout < 1/3; and Group 3 = patients with low subjective glands visibility and a gland dropout > 1/3. New metrics based on the visibility of the Meibomian glands were calculated and later compared between groups. Rho Spearman test was used to assess the correlation between each metric, and Meibomian gland dropout percentage with the entire sample and after excluding Group 2. A p value less than 0.05 was defined as statistically significant.

RESULTS

Fifty-six subjects were classified in Group 1 (24.48 ± 9.62 years), 19 in Group 2 (69.16 ± 21.30 years) and 37 in Group 3 (73.59 ± 13.70 years). No statistically significant differences were found between Groups 1 and 2 in dropout percentage. All metrics, with the exception of entropy, showed a higher Meibomian gland visibility in Group 1 than in the other two groups. Moderate correlations were statistically significant for all metrics with the exception of entropy. Correlations were higher after excluding Group 2.

CONCLUSION

The proposed method is able to assess Meibomian gland visibility in an objective and repeatable way, which might help clinicians enhance Meibomian gland dysfunction diagnosis and follow-up treatment.