Effect of Topical Azithromycin on Tear Film Thickness in Patients With Meibomian Gland Dysfunction
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2021-08-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) is among the leading causes for dry eye syndrome (DES),
affecting millions of people worldwide. We have shown in a previous study that tear film
thickness (TFT) is reduced in patients with DES and that this reduction correlates with tear
break up time (BUT) as well as with the severity of subjective symptoms. Even though systemic
tetracyclines as well as topical azithromycin can be used for the treatment of MGD, it seems
that topical azithromycin is more effective than tetracyclines and also has the advantage of
better tolerability. The hypothesis of the present study is that topical treatment with
azithromycin leads to a more pronounced increase in TFT compared to oral doxycycline in
patients with DES caused by MGD.
The objective of this study is to compare the effect of treatment with topical azithromycin
or oral doxycycline on tear film thickness in patients with DES caused by MGD.