SynthesisContact lens & anterior eye : the journal of the British Contact Lens Association2025
LipiFlow for the treatment of dry eye disease: A Cochrane systematic review summary.
Synthesis in Contact lens & anterior eye : the journal of the British Contact Lens Association, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Efficacy of eyelid warming therapies in contact lens-related dry eye and comfortable wearing time: a systematic review with meta-analysis.Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) · 2026Pooled it
- Long-term efficacy of three treatments for severe MGD: a comparative study in Chinese patients.International ophthalmology · 2025Trial
- LipiFlow and the Transformation of Therapeutic Meibomian Gland Expression into Routine Clinical Practice.Ophthalmology and therapy · 2026Review
- Practical Guide to the Local Treatment of Sjogren's Disease.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Perioperative low-level light therapy for ocular surface protection in patients undergoing Femto-LASIK: a prospective double-masked, randomized controlled study.Therapeutic advances in ophthalmologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo evaluate the effectiveness and the safety of LipiFlow for treating signs and symptoms of dry eye disease (DED) in adults.
methodsThe following databases were searched for randomized trials: CENTRAL, MEDLINE Ovid, Embase.com, PubMed, LILACS, ClinicalTrials.gov, and WHO ICTRP on 24 October 2022. The included studies were conducted in adults (≥18 years) with DED or meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) as defined by the investigators. Standard Cochrane methodology was applied.
resultsThis study included 13 trials that randomized a total of 1,155 participants (66 % female; age range = 19 to 86 years). Five trials compared LipiFlow with basic warm compresses. Analyzing symptom scores in these trials yielded conflicting evidence of a difference in symptoms between LipiFlow and basic warm compresses after 4 weeks. There was no evidence of a difference in meibomian gland expression, meibum quality, or tear breakup time when comparing LipiFlow with basic warm compresses. Another 5 trials compared LipiFlow with thermostatic devices. Analysis of symptom scores in these trials at 4 weeks showed that thermostatic devices had reduced Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) scores by a mean difference of 4.59 as compared with LipiFlow. The remaining 3 included trials could not be grouped for comparisons. The overall evidence was of low or very low certainty, with most trials being assessed as having a high risk of bias. No trial reported any intervention-related, vision-threating adverse events.
conclusionsLipiFlow performs similarly to other DED treatments. Further research with adequate masking and a standardized testing methodology is still needed.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion 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 OpenQuestion graph.