Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Evaluation of dry eye and meibomian gland function in pregnancy

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the signs and symptoms of dry eye in healthy pregnant women and investigate the effect of pregnancy on meibomian gland loss using non-contact meibography.

Methods

Healthy pregnant women and age-matched healthy non-pregnant women were included in the study. Subjective symptoms were assessed using the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI). The first and average non-invasive break-up times (first-NIBUT and avg-NIBUT, respectively) were determined, and the Schirmer test was applied. Non-contact meibography was performed.

Results

The study included a total of 62 women, 30 pregnant (study group) and 32 non-pregnant (control group). There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of OSDI score and the Schirmer test (p > 0.05). The mean first-NIBUT and avg-NIBUT values of the study group (13.1 ± 5.3 and 13.7 ± 4.5 s) were significantly lower than the control group (16.0 ± 2.4 and 16.4 ± 1.5 s) (p: 0.015 and p: 0.040, respectively). The mean meibomian gland losses in the upper and lower eyelids were significantly higher in the study group (16.9 ± 8.2% and 11.6 ± 10.2%) compared to the control group (9.7 ± 6.2% and 5.6 ± 4.7%) (p < 0.001 and p: 0.011, respectively).

Conclusions

It is considered that loss of the meibomian glands may occur during pregnancy, and this may predispose pregnant women to evaporative dry eye. Although dry eye does not cause significant ocular surface symptoms in pregnancy, NIBUT and non-contact meibography can be considered as effective diagnostic methods for the detection of dry eye in pregnant women.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Garg P, Aggarwal P (2012) Ocular changes in pregnancy. Nepal J Ophthalmol 4:150–161. https://doi.org/10.3126/nepjoph.v4i1.5867

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Samra KA (2013) The eye and visual system in pregnancy, what to expect? An in-depth review. Oman J Ophthalmol 6:87–91. https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-620X.116626

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Lemp MA, Crews LA, Bron AJ, Foulks GN, Sullivan BD (2012) Distribution of aqueous-deficient and evaporative dry eye in a clinic-based patient cohort: a retrospective study. Cornea 31:472–478. https://doi.org/10.1097/ICO.0b013e318225415a

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Arita R, Itoh K, Inoue K, Amano S (2008) Noncontact infrared meibography to document age-related changes of the meibomian glands in a normal population. Ophthalmology 115:911–915. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ophtha.2007.06.031

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Finis D, Pischel N, Schrader S, Geerling G (2013) Evaluation of lipid layer thickness measurement of the tear film as a diagnostic tool for Meibomian gland dysfunction. Cornea 32:1549–1553. https://doi.org/10.1097/ICO.0b013e3182a7f3e1

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Pult H, Nichols JJ (2012) A review of meibography. Optom Vis Sci 89:E760–E769. https://doi.org/10.1097/OPX.0b013e3182512ac1

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Nkiru ZN, Stella O, Udeh N, Polycarp UA, Daniel CN, Ifeoma RE (2019) Dry eye disease: a longitudinal study among pregnant women in Enugu, south east, Nigeria. Ocul Surf 17:458–463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtos.2019.05.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Truong S, Cole N, Stapleton F, Golebiowski B (2014) Sex hormones and the dry eye. Clin Exp Optom 97:324–336. https://doi.org/10.1111/cxo.12147

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Rizyal A, Shrestha B, Khadka A (2020) Dry eye disease among pregnant women at a tertiary care hospital in Kathmandu. Nep Med Coll J 22:146–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Wong J, Ding C, Yiu S, Smith R, Goodwin T, Schechter J (2004) An epidemiological study of pregnancy and dry eye. Ocul Surf 3(Supp 1):127

    Google Scholar 

  11. Ibraheem WA, Ibraheem AB, Tjani AM, Oladejo S, Adepoju S, Folohunso B (2015) Tear film functions and intraocular pressure changes in pregnancy. Afr J Reprod Health 19:118–122

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Skare TL, Gehlen ML, Silveira DM, Uema MM (2012) Gravidez e disfunção lacrimal [Lacrimal dysfunction and pregnancy]. Rev Bras Ginecol Obstet 34:170–174. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0100-72032012000400006

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Asiedu K, Kyei S, Adanusa M, Ephraim RKD, Animful S, Ali-Baya SK, Akorsah B, Sekyere MA (2021) Dry eye, its clinical subtypes and associated factors in healthy pregnancy: a cross-sectional study. PLoS One 16:e0258233. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258233

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Schechter JE, Pidgeon M, Chang D, Fong YC, Trousdale MD, Chang N (2002) Potential role of disrupted lacrimal acinar cells in dry eye during pregnancy. Adv Exp Med Biol 506(Pt A):153–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0717-8_20

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Ding C, Lu M, Huang J (2011) Changes of the ocular surface and aquaporins in the lacrimal glands of rabbits during pregnancy. Mol Vis 17:2847–2855

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Sarikaya S, Acet Y (2022) The effect of pregnancy on meibomian gland, tear film, cornea and anterior segment parameters. Photodiag Photodyn Ther 40:103070

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Our research was not funded by any organization.

Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Umraniye Educational and Research Hospital, Elmalıkent Mah. Adem Yavuz Cad. No: 1, Ümraniye, Istanbul, Turkey

    Merve Sena Kunduracı, Alev Koçkar, Gülay Karakuş Hacıoğlu & Betül İlkay Sezgin Akçay

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Umraniye Educational and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

    Çağlar Helvacıoğlu

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Furkan Kırık

Authors
  1. Merve Sena Kunduracı
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alev Koçkar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Çağlar Helvacıoğlu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Furkan Kırık
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Gülay Karakuş Hacıoğlu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Betül İlkay Sezgin Akçay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Conceived and designed the analysis was performed by MSK. Data collection was performed by MSK, AK, and ÇH. Data contribution or analysis was perfomed by ÇH, GKH, and BİSA. The first draft of the manuscript was written by FK, GKH, and BİSA and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Merve Sena Kunduracı.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no proprietary interests or conflicts of interest related to this submission.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by Ethics Committee of Umraniye Educational and Research Hospital.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kunduracı, M.S., Koçkar, A., Helvacıoğlu, Ç. et al. Evaluation of dry eye and meibomian gland function in pregnancy. Int Ophthalmol 43, 4263–4269 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-023-02836-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-023-02836-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation