Severity of Allergic Conjunctivitis (AC) and its Correlation with Severity of Meibomian Gland Loss and Meibomian Gland Duct Distortion on Meibography in Pediatric Population

Background & Objectives: To observe morphological changes in the meibomian glands of pediatric patients with allergic conjunctivitis and to assess the relation between degree of morphologic changes (Meibomian Gland Loss and Meibomian Gland Duct Distortion) of the meibomian glands of both eyelids with severity of allergic conjunctivitis. Methods: In this study, 74 eyes of 37 pediatric patients in the age group 5 to 15 years (32 Males and 5 Females) with allergic conjunctivitis was subdivided as proposed by Gokhale et al on slit lamp examination into (29 eyes) Mild, (24 eyes) Moderate and (21 eyes) Severe AC. Meibomian gland loss was assessed subjectively on non-contact meibography with five grade scale (meiboscale) as proposed by Dr. Heiko Pult. The presence of meibomian gland duct distortion was scored 1 when it was present and 0 when it was absent. Results: In our study, there is statistically insignificant correlation between the 3 groups i.e. severity of AC and meibomian gland loss on meibography. There is no statistically significant correlation between the 3 groups i.e. Severity of AC and Meibomian Gland Duct distortion. Meibomian Gland Duct Distortion was found to be in upper eyelid as in previous study conducted by Arita R et al. Conclusions: In our study, there is no statistically significant correlation found between severity of AC and severity of Meibomian gland loss on Meibography as well as with Meibomian Gland Duct Distortion. Small sample size was the limitation of our study so the study should be repeated with a larger sample size.