Hot towel treatment effective in reducing ocular symptoms of Meibomian gland dysfunction: Study

Hot towel treatments efficiently warm the eyelids and relieve ocular discomfort and needs standardization to gain most benefit from eyelid warming, says an article published in the Journal of British Contact Lens Association.

Millions of people with meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) experience a decline in quality of life and productivity at work, with significant direct and indirect social costs. The health of the ocular surface is compromised by thickened meibum, which blocks the glands. It may be advantageous to heat the eyelids in order to soften and express meibum from the glands. The easiest way to warm eyelids is using hot, damp cloths. However, the approach of this treatment determines its effectiveness, thus guidelines for best practices based on evidence are required. In order to evaluate the research on the use of hot towels in the treatment of MGD and suggest a best-practice protocol for upcoming studies and patient care, Morten Schjerven Magno and team conducted this study.

The key findings of this study were:

1. 22 of the 903 results that fulfilled the inclusion criteria were produced by the search.

2. Hot towels have been proven to be efficient at easing eye discomfort throughout research.

3. Without warming, the temperature, which was thought to be between 40 °C and 47 °C, soon dropped below the therapeutic range.

4. Most successful in raising eyelid temperature, equivalent to or better than a number of commercially available eyelid warming devices, were towels heated to around 45 °C and reheated every two minutes.

5. In the studies, there were no adverse effects noted.

In conclusion, in order to determine which techniques result in the most compliance, future research should evaluate patient satisfaction with various hot towel treatment methods that reheat or change the towel at least every two minutes. It is important to update any clinical advice or guidelines that do not highlight the necessity of routine warming during hot towel compress therapy.

Reference:

Schjerven Magno, M., Olafsson, J., Beining, M., Moschowits, E., Lagali, N., Wolffsohn, J. S., Craig, J. P., Vehof, J., Dartt, D. A., & Utheim, T. P. (2022). Hot towels: The bedrock of Meibomian gland dysfunction treatment – A review. In Contact Lens and Anterior Eye (p. 101775). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clae.2022.101775