Rosacea

To determine tear lactoferrin levels in patients with chronic diffuse meibomitis associated with acne rosacea and to investigate their role in the development and perpetuation of some inflammatory ocular surface complications. METHODS: In this non-randomized, controlled trial performed in a tertiary care center, eight patients with biopsy-proven acne rosacea and blepharitis , and ten patients with seborrheic blepharitis not associated with acne rosacea formed the study groups and ten normal patients were used as controls. Schirmer I test results, tear break-up time and radial immunodiffusion (Lactoplate) tests on tear samples of the three groups were compared. RESULTS: Compared to controls, tear lactoferrin concentrations were lower in both the acne rosacea and seborrheic blepharitis groups. However, this decrease was significant in only the seborrheic blepharitis group (p = 0.026). One patient in the acne rosacea group, with the lowest measurement, developed bacterial keratitis. CONC...

To correlate tear fluorescein clearance with interleukin-1alpha (IL-1alpha) concentration and gelatinase B (matrix metalloproteinase [MMP]-9) activity in the tear fluid of patients with ocular rosacea and normal control subjects. METHODS: Gelatinase activity was evaluated by gelatin zymography in tear fluid obtained from 13 patients with ocular rosacea (including 1 patient with recurrent epithelial erosion, 2 with recurrent peripheral corneal infiltrates and vascularization, and 2 patients with epithelial basement membrane dystrophy) and 13 normal subjects with normal aqueous tear production and no irritation symptoms. Tear fluorescein clearance was evaluated by measuring fluorescence in tear fluid collected from the inferior meniscus 15 minutes after instillation of 5 microl of 2% Na-fluorescein with a CytoFluor II fluorometer. Pro-MMP-9 and IL-1alpha concentrations in the tear fluid were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: Compared with normal control sub...