The Lid and Meibomian Gland (LIME) Working Group has conducted a multi-center clinical study.
Conducting a study at multiple centers is normally difficult, but this clinical study sought to obtain accurate findings through use of the same devices and investigators with the same level of laboratory expertise.

The LIME Working Group conducted a study on

”Increased tear fluid production as a compensatory response to meibomian gland loss: A multi-center, cross-sectional study”

and a paper describing this study has been accepted for publication in Ophthalmology!

Naturally, the article mentions the LIME Working Group!

In simple terms, meibomian gland functioning decreases and tear volume (normally determined using the tear menisci or the Schirmer test) increases. If the meibomian glands are severely dysfunctional, the water content in tear fluid will increase substantially!

Tear film has a homeostasis, and our study revealed that this homeostasis is achieved through a “one-way” compensatory mechanism.

In a different study we conducted (manuscript being submitted), we found that eyes with MGD were watery significantly more often than normal eyes. We have put forward a new concept of how tear film homeostasis is achieved, and we hope that our concept can serve as a springboard for a number of future studies.

This year, we have focused our research on tears, but next year we hope to actively look at infections and inflammation as well (since the LIME Working Group includes specialists in those areas!).

We look forward to amalgamating our ideas in the future.