Managing Severe Evaporative Dry Eye with Intense Pulsed Light Therapy

• DOI: 10.1007/s40123-023-00649-5
• Publication Date: 2023-01-24T17:02:52Z
• Authors: Guanghao Qin; Jiayan Chen; Liangzhe Li; Yang Xia; Qing Zhang; Yi Wu; Lanting Yang; Salissou Moutari; Jonathan E. Moore; Ling Xu; Wei He; Sile Yu; Xingru He; Emmanuel Eric Pazo
• Keywords: Ophthalmology; 03 medical and health sciences; Intense pulsed light; 0302 clinical medicine; Evaporative dry eye; 610; Dry eye; 600; Severe dry eye; RE1-994; 3. Good health; Original Research

This study assessed the efficacy and safety of intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy in participants with severe evaporative dry eye disease (DED).This randomized, controlled, single-center study included 49 adult participants (≥ 18 years) with severe evaporative DED who received either IPL therapy (n = 56 eyes) or sham therapy (n = 42 eyes) three times. The primary efficacy parameters were ocular surface disease index (OSDI) score, non-invasive tear breakup time (NITBUT), tear film lipid layer (TFLL), conjunctivocorneal staining score (CS), MG Score, meibomian gland (MG) quality, and MG expression score.The mean ages for the IPL group and the control group were 28.05 ± 3.41 years (57.1% female) and 28.14 ± 3.53 years (52.4% female), respectively. Comparison between the IPL group and the control group found significant differences in the mean OSDI score (22.16 ± 6.08 vs. 42.38 ± 6.60; P < 00.01), NITBUT (6.27 ± 0.84 vs. 3.86 ± 0.68; P < 0.001), TFLL (2.14 ± 0.44 vs. 3.45 ± 0.50; P < 0.001), MG Score (1.34 ± 0.55 vs. 1.88 ± 0.33; P < 0.001), MG quality (1.59 ± 0.07 vs. 2.67 ± 0.08), and MG expression (1.54 ± 0.57 vs. 2.45 ± 0.55) at 12 weeks follow-up; however, there was no significant difference in CS (3.32 ± 1.11 vs. 3.74 ± 1.04; P = 0.063).The findings suggest that IPL therapy is clinically beneficial in ameliorating the signs and symptoms of severe evaporative dry eye disease.