Why Sjogren's Disease Has Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD)
What is Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD)?
- Meibomian Gland Dysfuynction (MGD) is “a chronic abnormality of the meibomian oil glands located on your eye lids. It is often associated with Blepharitis - inflammation of the eye lids. This condition is commonly characterized by duct obstruction and/or qualitative/quantitative changes in the glandular secretions. If you suspect you may have MGD, ask your eye doctor to express your meibomian oil glands and tell you what comes out. Description should be
- Clear- normal
- cloudy
- tooth paste
- nothing comes out.
People with MGD has all the symptoms of chronic dry eyes-
- Eye irritation
- Blurry Vision
- Foreign Body Sensations
- Light Sensitive
- etc
Clinical Study Indicates Sjogren's has high incidence of MGD
This is an abstract from a publication 1. Sullivan, DA et al. Androgens and dry eye in Sjögren’s syndrome. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1999;876:312-24.
Clincal Result
Fluorescein and rose bengal staining scores were significantly higher in the SS group than in the non-SS group (P
= 0.0001). Evaporation of tears was increased significantly in the SS
group compared with the non-SS group. There were no significant
differences in the rate of tear production between the SS and non-SS
groups. Meibography showed that 11 (57.9%) of 19 eyes in the SS group
had gland dropout (i.e., histologic destruction of meibomian glands) in
more than half of the tarsus. The incidence was significantly higher
than that in the non-SS group (5 [18.5%] of 27 eyes; P = 0.005).
Conclusions
The results of this study indicate that destruction of meibomian glands and an increase in tear evaporation often are associated with changes in the ocular surface in patients with SS. Severe ocular surface changes in patients with SS may be attributed, in part, to the meibomian gland dysfunction.
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References
1. Sullivan, DA et al. Androgens and dry eye in Sjögren’s syndrome. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1999;876:312-24.
2. Sullivan, DA et al. Androgen deficiency, Meibomian gland dysfunction, and evaporative dry eye. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2002 Jun;966:211-22.
3. Sullivan, DA et al. Sex steroids, the meibomian gland and evaporative dry eye. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2002;506:389-99.
4. Craig JP, Tomlinson A. Importance of the lipid layer in human tear film stability and evaporation. Optom Vis Sci. 1997;74:8-13.
