Dry eye diseases are quite possibly the most prevalent of ophthalmic conditions encountered by eyecare professionals. There remains significant interest in understanding the causes of these diseases in addition to finding new diagnostics and therapeutics that can help us manage these conditions.

Evaporative dry eye is one of the more common types of dry eye disease and is most commonly caused by meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). A recent study evaluated the historical and current peer-reviewed literature regarding MGD and reported almost exponential growth in meibomian gland-related publications since the late 2000s (Nichols et al, 2021). In the last 10 years, most scholarly publications have specifically addressed new treatments for MGD, followed by diagnostic assessments used in the evaluation of the meibomian glands. One aspect of MGD that has been of greater interest more recently is that a large percentage of patients who have MGD are actually asymptomatic—a situation that we might consider to be “early-stage disease.” There is no doubt that we have come a long way in diagnostic evaluations for MGD, which often start with a symptom assessment. But, to really move the needle, we need to routinely incorporate an assessment of the meibomian glands (e.g., expression) into our evaluations of the ocular surface. You may (or may not) be surprised at what you find.

As we think about the month of July and the importance of recognizing dry eye disease awareness, we hope that you will find the articles in this issue to be of particular interest. Thank you for your continued support and vigilance in caring for our patients who have ocular surface disease.

For references, please visit www.clspectrum.com/references  and click on document #308.

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The goal of Contact Lens Spectrum is to provide you with timely and thought-provoking articles that will help you become a more successful contact lens practitioner. Please let us know how we’re doing! E-mail CLSpectrum@pentavisionmedia.com with your comments or article submissions.