AIM: To systematically evaluate the efficacy of intense pulsed light(IPL)combined with meibomian gland expression(MGX)in the treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction(MGD)-related dry eye disease(DED).

METHODS: Chinese and English databases such as Chinese national knowledge infrastructure(CNKI), Wanfang, VIP, CBM, ClinicalTrials, PubMed, Embase and Web of Science were searched, and clinical randomized controlled trials(RCTs)using IPL combined with MGX in the experimental group and MGX alone in the control group from January 2017 to September 2022 were included. Six outcome indicators including clinical efficacy, ocular surface disease index(OSDI)score, break-up time(BUT), corneal fluorescein staining(CFS)score, tear meniscus height(TMH)and meibomian gland yielding secretion score(MGYSS)were Meta analyzed by Review Manager 5.3 and Stata 14 software.

RESULTS: A total of 15 RCTs were included, with 1 345 patients with MGD-related dry eye. Meta-analysis results showed that the treatment of MGD-related dry eye in the experimental group improved better clinical efficacy(OR=4.95, 95%CI: 2.76～8.90, Z=5.35, P<0.00001), BUT(SMD=1.26, 95%CI: 0.84～1.69, Z=5.78, P<0.00001), TMH(SMD=0.37, 95%CI: 0.15～0.59, Z=3.33, P=0.0009), and reduced OSDI scores(SMD=-0.86, 95%CI: -1.44～-0.27, Z=2.85, P=0.004)as well as MGYSS(SMD=-2.43, 95%CI: -4.31～-0.54, Z=2.52, P=0.01)than the control group. However, there was no statistically significant difference in CFS scores(SMD=-0.19, 95%CI: -0.46～0.07, Z=1.43, P=0.15).

CONCLUSION: IPL combined with MGX in the treatment of MGD related dry eye can increase the overall effective rate and improve the symptoms and signs of patients with MGD related dry eye better than MGX alone.