Efficacy and safety of the disposable eyelid warming masks in the treatment of dry eye disease due to meibomian gland dysfunction

Abstract

Background Warm compresses are the routine treatment for Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) in daily life, but in order to achieve satisfactory efficacy, the treatment needs to be sustained over a long time, which can affect the level of patient compliance. A more convenient warm compresses will help improve the patient compliance. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of the disposable eyelid warming masks for treatment of dry eye disease (DED) due to MGD. Methods This is a randomized, controlled, non-masked, two-center clinical trial. One hundred and forty-four patients were treated by the masks or the hot towel twice daily for 12 weeks. Patients were evaluated at baseline, 4-week and 12-week visits for subjective symptoms, objective signs and safety assessments, including ocular symptom scores, ocular surface disease index (OSDI), tear break-up time (BUT), corneal fluorescein staining (CFS), Schirmer I test (SIT), meibum quality, meibum expressibility, and adverse events (AEs). Results A totle of 134 patients were followed in the study. The mean age of the masks group (14 males and 52 females) and the hot towel group (20 males and 48 females) was 43.7 ± 13.5 years and 39.5 ± 13.9 years, respectively. At 4-week visit, there were significant statistical differences in ocular symptom scores, OSDI and CFS between two groups (P < 0.05). At 12-week visit, except for SIT, the treatment group showed a greater improvement in subjective symptoms and objective signs than the control group (P < 0.05). In addition, 40 AEs occurred in 27 patients (37.5%) in the treatment group, and 34 AEs occurred in 21 patients (29.17%) in the control group. No serious AEs were reported. Conclusions The masks had a good efficacy and safety in the treatment of DED due to MGD, and might offer an attractive treatment option for some patients. Trial registration: The study was registered at Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR1900025443).