ArticleTranslational vision science & technology2025
Morphological Characteristics of the Meibomian Glands: Impact of Demographics and Contact Lens Wear.
Article in Translational vision science & technology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Anteroplacement of the Mucocutaneous Junction and Goblet Cell Expansion: Microanatomic Remodeling of the Human Eyelid Margin.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Purpose: To determine the impact of age, sex, ethnicity, and contact lens wear on the detailed morphology of the Meibomian glands as quantified by a deep learning segmentation model. Methods: A large dataset of meibography images (n = 2233) from 560 subjects was compiled and input to a supervised machine learning model to quantify gland length, width, tortuosity, contrast, atrophy, density, and number of glands. These morphology outcomes were modeled as functions of age, sex, ethnicity, and contact lens wear parameters. Results: Age was significantly associated with shorter glands, more atrophy, and lower gland density (all p < 0.001). No Meibomian gland morphological characteristics were related to sex. Asian subjects exhibited the longest and densest glands, and black subjects exhibited the most gland atrophy. Although contact lens wearers overall had significantly longer glands (∼4%-5%; p < 0.001) than non-wearers, no other contact lens wear parameter was significantly related to any Meibomian gland morphological feature. Conclusions: What constitutes "normal-looking" Meibomian glands in a meibography image depends on the age and ethnicity of the patient. There appear to be no significant female/male Meibomian gland morphological differences. Meibomian gland morphology is robust to contact lens wear based on a large-sample analysis of younger, successful contact lens wearers. Now that the impact of these external factors has been established, work is ongoing to determine exactly what alterations in Meibomian gland morphology contribute to downstream pathology. Translational Relevance: This study used artificial intelligence to provide clinicians with novel insights into normal versus abnormal Meibomian gland morphological features in their patients.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.