Clinical safety and efficacy of vitamin D3 analog ointment for treatment of obstructive meibomian gland dysfunction.

 

I’d like to introduce our brand-new manuscript regarding the new treatment for MGD.

Ointment containing 1,25-dihydroxy-22-oxavitamin D3 (maxacalcitol), a noncalcemic analog of the active form of vitamin D3, is is applied for the treatment of hyperkeratotic cutaneous conditions such as psoriasis and ichtyosis because it suppresses the proliferation and promotes the differentiation of keratinocytes through interaction with the vitamin D receptor.

Hyperkeratinization is a major cause of obstructive meibomian gland dysfunction (oMGD) and results in degenerative gland dilation and atrophy.

So, we applied active vitamin D3 ointment for 8 weeks to healthy subjects and patients with obstructive MGD who had many plugging.

As results, severe adverse effects of ointment application were not observed in the healthy subjects or oMGD patients. The clinical scores for plugging of meibomian gland orifices and lid margin vascularity as well as BUT, meibum grade, and meibomian gland area were significantly improved in oMGD patients after the 8-week treatment period compared with pretreatment values.

To note, plugging were completely removed after the treatment.

We consider that active vitamin D3 ointment could cure the root cause of MGD. In the near future, a large number of patients in multi-centers, double-blind studies will be necessary to confirm the efficacy of this treatment.

Thank you for reading and have a nice weekend!

Reiko