Diet and Meibomian Gland Dysfunction

[Guest]

Since late August of this year, I've been playing around with Brady Barrow's Rosacea Diet (from his book, Rosacea 101).

I go on it for a couple weeks, fall off the wagon for a few days or a week, go back on the Rosacea diet for another 2-3 weeks, then fall off the wagon etc.

The interesting thing is, I think that crazy diet is actually helping my MG's. Every time I go on it, my MG's improve in appearance (plus, my rosacea on my face totally goes away)... every time I go off it, my MG's gradually worsen again. I must admit to being very skeptical that merely changing my diet would have such an impact... so part of my "falling off the wagon" is on purpose to see if my MG's and rosacea get worse again.... but sure enough, every time I fall off the wagon, my MG's and rosacea do indeed get worse.

I am still somewhat amazed that this could make such a difference. Even more crazy is that not only do my MG's and rosacea improve, but the joint pain in my knees and ankles gets way better too (if I'm on the diet long enough, the joint pain totally goes away). I've seen a lot of stuff on-line about low carb diets being anti-inflammatory, so maybe that would explain the joints getting better? (Plus, Dr. L. mentions an anti-inflammatory diet in his book..)

Anyhow, I'm not saying this has been a miracle cure for all of my dry eye issues... but still, having better functioning MG's certainly does help matters, and I'll take all the help I can get!

Anyhow, don't want to make this sound like one of those scams promising to fix everything ("Take this little-known wonder-supplement from the ancient tribes of the lost jungles of Timbuktoo and you'll have more lustrous hair, you'll live to be 100, you'll look 20 years younger, all your ailments will be cured!!!"

But, just wondering... anyone else out there who's had any significant success by changing nothing other than a major change in diet?

[Rebecca Petris]

The interesting thing is, I think that crazy diet is actually helping my MG's. Every time I go on it, my MG's improve in appearance (plus, my rosacea on my face totally goes away)... every time I go off it, my MG's gradually worsen again.

Glad to hear it... and it doesn't surprise me a bit. I am quite convinced that diet is a huge part of the MGD 'epidemic'.

Of course like a lot of dry eye causes, reversing the cause doesn't necessarily cause a visible difference in the condition in the short term. And of course, we see posts now and then saying "I did ABCD...XYZ changes to my diet and it made no difference at all" but no such individual experience can belie the general principle. And since eating habits are one of the very hardest things for most people to change, it's human nature to take the slightest evidence against it as encouragement to ignore this factor.

So I appreciate your posting this. I would love to hear more from people who have seen a tie-in between what they eat and their dry eyes.

[Guest]

And since eating habits are one of the very hardest things for most people to change, it's human nature to take the slightest evidence against it as encouragement to ignore this factor.

This is a major reason why I tried almost everything else first! I loooooove to eat, and trying to eliminate or drastically cut down on the foods that I love, but KNOW are not ideal to eat is tough.

That being said, I'm sure that if I just keep trying, I'll get better at it... plus, I know from past experience that the cravings for a lot of the bad stuff etc. go away after a couple of weeks of avoiding them. My record for sticking to this eating plan is 3-4 weeks... we'll see if I can make it for months at a time eventually It can't hurt, and it would be interesting to see what, if any, is the long term effect on my eyes.

I'm trying to add some variety to the Rosacea diet of eggs for breakfast. This morning's menu was scrambled eggs with ham, old cheddar cheese, and fresh baby spinach added at the end.... a coworker of mine does the spinach thing with her eggs... I was surprised at how good it was.

I would love to hear more from people who have seen a tie-in between what they eat and their dry eyes.

Me too!

[calcan]

[

You've motivated me to try this diet. I'll have to check out this book and the diet. (I'll admit I have a hard time giving up certain food and drink, but I've never tried anything like this long-term).

[jenny2008]

i have tried several similar anti inflammatory diets in the past and i know i def had more energy.. lately i have been eating 'bad'..too many treats, etc.. and now i just diagnosed with anterior blepharitis ontop of the posterior bleph... i wish when i was on my 'diets' i would have journaled how my glands were.. i know i did have months throughout the year where my glands were not nearly as clogged as to other times...

i am back on a health kick now too... i think i need to give it a good 6 months or so and i am going to also keep a journal re: my doc visits .. how my glands are,, how my eyes feel and also my sjogren's flares...
i will keep everyone posted..

SAAG please keep us posted tooo.. thanks!!

[Guest]

It'll be interesting to compare notes for sure! I honestly don't expect this to fix my dry eyes 100%, since I think Lasik permanently screwed that up... but any improvement is always welcome, so I'll shoot for that Just having my MG's working better makes a huge difference in comfort, so that alone is fantastic!

If anyone has any particularly yummy ways to eat cooked eggs in the morning, let me know!

I know some people add them raw to smoothies, but I'm too squeamish for drinking raw eggs like that... And, well, I suspect that cooked eggs pureed in a smoothie would totally not be yummy

[jenny2008]

they say on the diet list for rosacea that bananas can be a trigger food... i eat them every day and have never noticed any problems... would i notice flushing in my eyes or face after eating one if it were a trigger for me??

[Spoon]

Diet effects my mgd

Diet alters the functioning & inflammation in my mg's too. But it only provides benefit when I am simultaneously treating the 'local' factors of meibomian gland dysfunction as well - such as meibum stasis (with heat&expression) & bacterial load (with a lid cleanser). From reading up on what is known on meibum synthesis inside the glands, it makes sense. They work on a holocrine system where the meibocytes/cells inside the glands multiply and split to release the lipid complex. My thoughts are that even if the process of meibocyte synthesis is positively influenced by diet this will be of no benefit if those bad boys are blocked and there are excess bacterial lipases and endotoxins altering the lipid, gene expression etc. There are studies showing that diet affect sebaceous lipid metabolism - more than just the omega 3 and oliec acid ones. Whether or not this is via hormone alterations i cant remember. In addition diet obviously has an effect on the immune system, particularly the non-specific 'innate' immune system. Ill make a referenced post on this when i am not typing awkwardly on an iPhone but basically don't ignore diet because It Is a useful tool to influence both meibum synthesis and innate response which is often casing excessive inflammation in rosacea.

Like Rebecca pointed out, removing the cause will not necessarily fix the problem in the short term and with mgd I don't think it will in the long-term either unless these downstream effects are resolved. The clinical data and investment in lipiflow, a device aimed at evacuating the meibomian glands shows just how much a single thorough clean out can do and how the way most of us are currently doing warm compresses is not adequate.

[Cindy]

Sometimes it's so simple we miss it. When I eat well, my body rewards me. When I don't, it doesn't. Toxins take a toll on every organ in your body that has to try to excrete/deal with them. Garbage in, garbage out. Sometimes it's worth it, e.g.: Christmas cookies that your mom made, a favorite drink, pepperoni pizza ...our eyes deal with the upside and downside of our dietary choices.

[Rebecca Petris]

I like Michael Pollan's eating advice:

Eat food.

Not too much.

Mostly plants.