A new study investigated the impact of soft contact lens wear on the meibomian glands (MG).
The study details.
The authors examined 174 eyes of current contact lens wearers and 103 eyes of non-contact lens wearers. They divided the contact lens wearers into three categories:
–Less than 3 years of contact lens wear.
–3-7 years of contact lens wear.
–more than 7 years of contact lens wear.
What did they measure?
A lot of things: Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) scores, slit lamp findings, fluorescein staining, tear break-up time, Schirmer testing, and meibography.
What did they find?
All the above findings were worse in contact lens wearers as compared with controls. The earliest morphological change in the MG of contact lens wearers was MG thickening. These issues were even more apparent in patients that wore contacts for more than 3 years.
