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Purpose : To investigate the relationship between clinical manifestations, systemic or local inflammation and Matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9) expression in the tear of patients with epiblepharon.
Methods : A retrospective study was conducted of 228 eyes from 162 epiblepharon patients who conducted the test that detects MMP-9 (Inflammadry, RPS inc., USA) between October 2017 and January 2019. The control group was 55 eyes from 30 strabismus patients without blepharitis or conjunctivitis. The degree of epiblepharon was classified based on the height of lid margin skin fold and the extent of involvement.
Results : Two hundred twenty eight eyes from 162 epiblepharon were enrolled with mean age 7.23±4.70 years. The positive rate of MMP-9 was 6.5% in controls and 43.5% in epiblepharon. The positive rate was significantly higher in children with atopic dermatitis (100%). When accompanied with tearing or corneal opacity, it was significant higher but not with discharge. Especially in children, when the degree of epiblepharon was severe and the central eyelid was involved, the positive rate was significantly higher. However, there was no significant correlation with the extent of the epiblepharon.
Conclusion : It should be considered that when when corneal irritation was severe and the central eyelid was involved, the positive rate of MMP-9 test was significantly higher. Therefore MMP-9 test could be employed as an useful method to evaluate the inflammation status in the patients with epiblepharon.
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