Role of Omega-3 supplementation in Blepharitis and MGD

[willwork4tears]

Since my opthalmologist knows I'm interested in the benefits of omega-3 supplementation for dry eye he recommended I read this thesis.

This is a long read. But for those that are always looking for scientific evidence that O-3 supplementation helps dry eye, this would be a great resource. In her year-long study, flaxseed oil was the experimental "drug" and olive oil was the "control". (Since olive oil has almost no O-3). For those of you trying to figure out how to express your MG there are some great pictures. One shows blocked MGs. The other shows the oil coming out after pressure has been applied using a Q-tip.

http://ukpmc.ac.uk/picrender.cgi?art...2&blobtype=pdf
THE ROLE OF OMEGA-3 DIETARY SUPPLEMENTATION IN BLEPHARITIS AND MEIBOMIAN GLAND DYSFUNCTION (AN AOS THESIS)
BY Marian S. Macsai MD

I believe this is an open access journal, but please let me know if the link doesn't work.

[Tempestuous]

Thanks - link works great.
I'll look over it properly tomorrow.

[EllMitcho]

This is great thanks - I have held a sceptical view of the benefits of omega3 for MGD due to lack of exactly this type of research. I will read (and re-read) and try to understand!

Thanks again

Ell

[Happymeal]

Interesting read, thanks for the linky.

[EllMitcho]

Just to say that on the strength of this article I have bought a load of Flaxseed oil and am taking 6 x 1g capsules per day. I am determined to give this a go long term and will post my results every couple of months or so.

cheers

Ell

[odydnas]

Thanks for the article!! It was very informative and a good read.

However, I noticed that the OSDI scores at baseline were actually only mild to moderate: overall score is only 26 out of 100. I don't know about many of you, but my OSDI score is in the 80's, and i'm going to assume many of you have much much higher OSDI scores than the patients in teh study, or else you wouldnt be on DEZ, so desperate to try anything.

People with mild-moderate symptoms seem to respond quite well to many therapies even if its just simply tear supplementation and warm compresses! A big contrast to those with much more severe symptoms who have little response even when combining all therapies.

I have yet to see a paper about the benefits of omega-3 supplementation when it comes to easing severe dry eye symptoms. I am so tired of reading papers about "effective" therapies when the study participants don't have REAL LIFE ALTERING dry eye to begin with and all they have is some minor annoyance.

[spmcc]

My issue with the study is that the results aren't statistically significant (P=.3 and P=.21). This could be due to the low number of participants (N=38 at enrollment and N=30 reaching the end point).