AIM: To investigate the effect of intense pulsed light on the meibomian gland dysfunction(MGD), and to observe whether the intense pulsed light can improve the symptoms and objective indexes of the patients with meibomian gland dysfunction.

METHODS: A retrospective noncomparative interventional case series was conducted. Totally 21 MGD patients(42 eyes)were selected from November 2016 to February 2017 in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, the results of the following tests is recorded: OSDI score, corneal fluorescein staining, tear break-up time, ocular surface analyzer, scanning confocal microscopy, all patients respectively were received intense pulsed light treatment 3 times at 3wk intervals, and followed up after 1mo. Paired sample t test was used to analyze the difference in outcome.

RESULTS: In the 21 cases(42 eyes), the OSDI score decreased, the mean value before treatment was 30.18±4.07, and the mean value after treatment was 24.87±4.32. The first tear film break-up time(first, BUT)increased, the mean value before treatment was 5.37±0.82s, the mean value after treatment was 7.12±0.74s. The mean value of meibomian gland secretion scores before the treatment was 1.57±0.52,the mean value after treatment was 1.22±0.52. The mean value of corneal fluorescence staining before treatment was 0.82±0.41, and the mean value after treatment was 0.51±0.53, the difference was statistically significant(t=11.2, 2.68, 3.31, 2.78, 2.61; P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: Intense pulsed light can effectively improve the subjective symptoms of patients with MGD and alleviate the obstruction of meibomian glands. It is an important method for MGD treatment.