A Novel Lid Hygiene Detergent Successfully Eliminated Demodex Mites, a Common Pathogen of Refractory Obstructive Meibomian Gland Dysfunction.

Introduction: Demodex mites are microscopic arthropods that have been shown to be responsible for chronic blepharitis. Although many reports have demonstrated positive effects of lid hygiene on demodicosis, some have produced conflicting results. We retrospectively evaluated the effect of lid margin cleansing with a novel lid hygiene detergent, Eye Shampoo, in patients with ocular demodicosis.

Eyelid cleansing with ointment for obstructive meibomian gland dysfunction.

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of eyelid margin cleansing with ofloxacin ophthalmic ointment in obstructive meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) patients.

Methods: Thirty-one eyes of 31 patients diagnosed with obstructive MGD were enrolled. All subjects were instructed to rub the eyelid edge with ofloxacin eye ointment once daily prior to bathing.

Evaluation of lipid oxidative stress status in Sjögren syndrome patients.

Purpose: We evaluated the levels of lipid oxidative stress markers and inflammatory cells from tears and conjunctiva of patients with Sjögren syndrome (SS) and normal subjects.

Methods: We examined 31 eyes of 16 patients (16 females) with SS and 15 eyes of 10 healthy controls (2 males and 8 females) in this prospective study. All subjects underwent a Schirmer test, measurement of tear film break-up time, vital stainings, confocal microscopy of the conjunctiva, tear collection for hexanoyl-lysine (HEL), ELISA, and conjunctival brush cytology.

The application of in vivo confocal scanning laser microscopy in the diagnosis and evaluation of treatment responses in Mooren's ulcer.

Purpose: To evaluate the extent of corneal inflammation and the response to treatment in patients with Mooren's ulcer, by in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM).

Methods: Twenty-two eyes of 15 patients with Mooren's ulcer were enrolled in this prospective study. All subjects underwent routine ophthalmic examinations, IVCM, and conjunctival histopathologic examination of specimens in patients undergoing conjunctival excision.

The sparkle of the eye: the impact of ocular surface wetness on corneal light reflection.

Purpose: To measure the sparkle of the human eye evaluated by the intensity of corneal light reflection in normal subjects and dry eye patients to investigate whether ocular surface wetness has an impact on the sparkle of the eye.

Design: Prospective case-control study.

Methods: We examined a consecutive series of eight dry eye patients with Sjögren syndrome (SS, 15 eyes), as well as eight normal subjects (16 eyes).

In vivo evaluation of ocular demodicosis using laser scanning confocal microscopy.

Purpose: To investigate the applicability of in vivo laser scanning confocal microscopy in the diagnosis and follow-up of ocular demodicosis infestation in a prospective controlled study.

Methods: Fifteen right eyes of 15 patients with blepharitis associated with cylindrical dandruff (10 males, 5 females; mean age: 62.9 ± 9 years) and eight right eyes of eight age- and sex-matched control subjects underwent HRTII/RCM, evaluation of ocular symptom scores, tear function tests including vital stainings, Schirmer test, and tear clearance test, and evaluation of mite numbers in the eyelids.

In vivo evaluation of superior limbic keratoconjunctivitis using laser scanning confocal microscopy and conjunctival impression cytology.

Purpose: To investigate the cytologic findings of superior bulbar conjunctiva in superior limbic keratoconjunctivitis (SLK) using laser scanning confocal microscopy and impression cytology in a prospective controlled study.

Methods: Twenty-one eyes of 11 SLK patients (9 women, 2 men; mean age, 49.3 +/- 17.

Passive cigarette smoke exposure and soft contact lens wear.

Purpose: To prospectively investigate the effects of passive cigarette smoke exposure on the ocular surface and tear film in soft contact lens (SCL) wearers.

Methods: Twelve right eyes of 12 SCL wearers without any ocular or systemic diseases and 10 right eyes of 10 subjects who never wore CLs were examined before and 2 h after 5 min of passive cigarette smoke exposure in a controlled smoke chamber. Tear evaporation rate measurement, tear film break-up time (TBUT) examination, ocular surface fluorescein, rose bengal stainings, and Schirmer I test were performed at each visit.

Conjunctival in vivo confocal scanning laser microscopy in patients with Sjögren syndrome.

Purpose: To demonstrate the conjunctival alterations in patients with Sjögren's (SSDE) and non-Sjögren's syndrome dry eye (NSSDE) using a new generation confocal microscope (HRTII/ RCM; Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany), in a prospective controlled study.

Methods: Twenty-eight right eyes of 28 patients with SSDE (28 women; mean age, 58.2 +/- 14.

The evaluation of the treatment response in obstructive meibomian gland disease by in vivo laser confocal microscopy.

Purpose: To evaluate the status of periglandular inflammation, ocular surface and tear function alterations in patients with obstructive meibomian gland disease (OMGD) by in vivo confocal microscopy before and after anti-inflammatory treatment, and to compare the results with patients receiving only topical non-preserved artificial tears and sodium hyaluronate eye drops without anti-inflammatory agents.

Methods: Thirty-two eyes of 16 OMGD patients receiving anti-inflammatory treatment (treatment group) and 22 eyes of 11 OMGD patients receiving only topical non-preserved artificial tears and sodium hyaluronate eye drops (control group) were recruited in this prospective study. All subjects underwent slit-lamp examinations, tear film break-up time (BUT) measurements, fluorescein and Rose-Bengal stainings, Schirmer test capital I, Ukrainian without anesthesia, transillumination of the lids (meibography), and in vivo laser confocal microscopy of the lids (HRTII-RCM).

The application of in vivo laser confocal microscopy to the diagnosis and evaluation of meibomian gland dysfunction.

Purpose: To evaluate the morphological changes of the meibomian glands (MG) in patients with meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) compared to normal subjects by in vivo confocal microscopy and to investigate the relation of these changes to the clinical ocular surface findings and tear functions.

Methods: Twenty MGD patients and 15 normal subjects were recruited into this prospective study. Patients and controls underwent slit lamp examinations, tear film break-up time (BUT) measurements, fluorescein and Rose-Bengal stainings, Schirmer test I without anesthesia, tear evaporation rate assessment (TEROS), tear film lipid layer interferometry (DR-1), transillumination of the lids (meibography), MG expressibility test, and in vivo laser confocal microscopy of the lids (HRTII-RCM).

Reduced choroidal blood flow can induce visual field defect in open angle glaucoma patients without intraocular pressure elevation following encircling scleral buckling.

Purpose: To determine the cause of the progressive glaucomatous visual field defects in three patients after an encircling scleral buckle for a rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD).

Methods: Scanning laser Doppler flowmetry and visual field tests were performed on three cases with unilateral progressive visual field defect after an encircling scleral buckling for a RRD. Similar measurements were made after the buckle was removed.

Microcirculation in eyes after rhegmatogenous retinal detachment surgery.

Purpose: To investigate the tissue blood flow in the neuroretinal rim of the optic disk and macula after rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) surgery.

Methods: Tissue blood flow in the neuroretinal rim of the optic disk and macula was measured with the Heidelberg retina flowmeter in 53 eyes of 53 patients who had undergone successful surgery for unilateral RRD. Patients were divided into three groups; those who had the RRD treated by conventional encircling scleral buckling (group E), by local buckling (group L), and by primary vitrectomy (group V).

The application of in vivo confocal scanning laser microscopy in the management of Acanthamoeba keratitis.

Purpose: To evaluate the role of in vivo laser scanning confocal microscopy (Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II, Rostock Cornea Module, HRTII-RCM) in the management of Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK).

Methods: Four eyes of four patients with AK seen at Keio University Hospital at the Department of Ophthalmology were studied in this single-center, prospective, interventional case series. All patients were routinely examined by slit-lamp microscopy including corneal fluorescein staining.

Decreased blood flow at neuroretinal rim of optic nerve head corresponds with visual field deficit in eyes with normal tension glaucoma.

Purpose: To determine the relationship between the blood flow parameters of the optic disc rim and the glaucomatous visual field changes.

Design: Observational cross-sectional study.

Methods: Tissue blood flow in the neuroretinal rim within the optic disc was determined with the Heidelberg retina flowmeter(HRF) in 54 eyes of 54 patients with normal tension glaucoma (NTG).

Macular nerve fibers temporal to fovea may have a greater potential to recover function in patients with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy.

Purpose: It is known that even after visual loss, younger patients with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) can recover vision. The purpose of this study was to determine the mean age at onset for LHON patients with and without visual recovery who carried the 11778 mutation, and to determine the pattern of central vision recovery.

Methods: Thirty-five LHON patients with the 11778 mutation of mitochondrial DNA who had visited the Keio University Hospital between 1980 and 1999 and were followed for 2 to 20 years, were the subjects of this retrospective study.