Atrophied meibomian glands

[DrG]

It seems that there is a wealth of information "out there" on the physiology and pathogenesis of sebaceous glands in general that can be useful in shedding light on that particular sebaceous gland in the eyelid, called the meibomian gland. One example can be found here. They can malfunction, become plugged, infected, inflamed, and eventually scar shut. I'm not sure how one goes about deciding which glands drop out permanently and which ones can re-open. It most likely depends on the duration and severity of the inflammation.

Therefore, therapy is aimed at unclogging the glands, thinning the secretion, and reducing the inflammation, and the sooner the better. Steroids and Restasis intervene on the inflammatory side of the equation, as does doxycycline and minocycline. Omega-3's also have an anti-inflammatory effect. While all of these substances exert anti-inflammatory effects, they all intervene in different parts of the inflammatory cycle, which is why they are often used in concert.

[Rojzen]

I have the diagnosis in question (defunct/gone meibomian glands)

Thank you, Rebecca, for reaching out for cases of this nature. . .This is exactly my diagnosis. . .Atrophied meibomian glands, with most dropped out, and pretty good lacrimal function. . .Initial therapy was 2 years of topical retinoic acid, administered by Dr. Scheffer Tseng, then at Bascom Palmer. He has occasionally succeeded in producing a chemical peel of the metaplasia covering the deadened meibomian glands, by a course of retinoic acid. . .but it did not work for me. . .Retinoic acid was, btw, in a petrolatum medium, and that was awful. . .but the active ingredient did me no harm. . .Since I shall never produce much lipid again, it appears, I have focused primarily on reducing tear evaporation mechanically. . .And yes, the pain of having very little, and poor quality, lipid, as a result of gland dropout, is severe. . .Hence my resort, some time ago, to neurogenic pain treatment by amitriptyline. . .Still, it is conceivable that hormonal treatments of the future may lead to reactivation of glands in some cases. . .Who knows?. . .Dr. Tseng's interest was in producing a lipid replacement. . ."Soothe" was supposed to do that (I clinical-trialed Soothe, which posits that a broad-spectrum phospholipid can help everybody with lipid abnormality), but alas, the lipid it uses is based in mineral oil (ugh), and is too general to work for all lipid deficiency cases, I fear. . .Other lipid research seems quiet these days. . .Sad. . .

[neil0502]

Rozjen-

Hello, and a hearty welcome!

May I ask a favor, please? Could you possibly break your posts up into multiple paragraphs, rather than one long paragraph?

Some of us, including myself, have difficulty reading. It's tempting, then, to simply skip over posts entirely when they're big, lengthy chunks of text.

None of us wants to do that, I'm sure. We might miss the cure

I'd be most grateful.

Neil