Compare My Meibomian Glands to Normal Meibomian Glands: MeiboGrade

What does a Normal Meibomian Gland Look Like?

Compare My Meibomian Glands to Normal Meibomian Glands with LipiView’s MeiboGrade

For the first time in history, we can now show patients what their Meibomian Glands look like. Why is this important? If you are one of the millions of people out there that feel their eyes from time to time or have dry eyes (ie, burning, gritty, red, itching, dry feeling), you NEED to know what your meibomian gland looks like. Friends and family members of mine who put this off not regret not getting their LipiView done as soon as it came out which was about 6 months ago.

Still Stanford & Harvard Medical Schools do not have this technology, but more and more MDs are providing this service for their patients.

Here is what the grading system looks like. 

The company put the scale on a 0-3 scale. I prefer a Likert scale so I grade glands between 0-3 by 0.1 intervals to give me more information to try to more objectively and precisely see where a patient’s eye lid stands and if treatment helps.

Gland function depends on 2 factors:

1. Total number present minus Drop Out of Glands

2. Gland Duct Dilation

If you have no Gland loss, you are graded as 0=normal esssentially

If you have more than 50% loss of glands, you are graded as 3=Very Severe

There is a great deal of data that this number does not represent:

-is there shortening of the gland, which indicates the gland is not working normally and is about to atrophy or disappear if nothing is done.

-dilation of gland: the worse the dilate, the more likely there is an obstructed orifice. If the scar is not removed, the gland will further dilate and scar tissue will form and the gland will start to die.