Meibomian gland imaging

1. A method of evaluating and treating dry eye wherein the flow of naturally occurring secretion to the eye is reduced or stopped due to the presence of an obstruction of a meibomian gland in an eyelid having a plurality of meibomian glands comprising:

imaging at least one meibomian gland of the plurality of meibomian glands to diagnose a condition of the at least one meibomian gland;

treating the at least one meibomian gland to remove an obstruction from the at least one meibomian gland; and

re-imaging the at least one meibomian gland to verify that the obstruction has been removed;

wherein at least one of the imaging and the re-imaging is carried out with a force applied to the eyelid; and

wherein at least one of the imaging and the re-imaging comprises imaging of at least a portion of a central duct of the at least one meibomian gland that is located below an orifice of the at least one meibomian gland to allow visualization of a flow or lack of flow of secretory material from within or through the central duct when the force is applied to the eyelid.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the imaging is carried out using one of a group comprising VHF ultrasound imaging, OCT imaging, NIR optical imaging, infrared thermal imaging, trans-illumination imaging, and visible light photographic imaging of the eyelid surface.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein an image resulting from the imaging is processed by assignment of pseudocolors to the image.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging is carried out using VHF ultrasound, and where the VHF frequency is between 80 and 160 MHz.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging is carried out using OCT imaging.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging is carried out using NIR optical imaging in a 0.650 to 2.5 micron wavelength.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging is carried out using infrared thermal imaging in a 2.5 to 18 micron wavelength.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging is carried out using visible light surface photographic imaging under magnification.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging is carried out using OCT imaging focused on a depth of 2 to 4 mm.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the focus is fixed.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the focus is variable.

12. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the imaging is carried out using at least one of an A-scan, a B-scan and a C-scan.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the imaging is carried out using trans-illumination photography.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the trans-illumination is produced by oblique illumination of the eyelid from a anterior surface thereof.

15. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the trans-illumination is produced by lighting the eyelid from a posterior surface thereof.

16. A method of evaluating and treating dry eye wherein the flow of naturally occurring secretion to the eye is reduced or stopped due to the presence of an obstruction of a meibomian gland in an eyelid having a plurality of meibomian glands comprising:

imaging at least one meibomian gland of the plurality of meibomian glands to diagnose a condition of the at least one meibomian gland;

treating the at least one meibomian gland to remove an obstruction from the at least one meibomian gland; and

re-imaging the at least one meibomian gland to verify that the obstruction has been removed;

wherein at least one of the imaging and the re-imaging is carried out with a force applied to the eyelid;

wherein at least one of the imaging and the re-imaging comprises imaging of at least a portion of a central duct of the at least one meibomian gland that is located below an orifice of the at least one meibomian gland to allow visualization of a flow or lack of flow of secretory material from within or through the central duct when the force is applied to the eyelid;

wherein the imaging is carried out using trans-illumination photography; and

wherein the imaging is carried out by scanning a surface that is trans-illuminated and processing resulting scanned images to produce a single image.

17. A method of evaluating and treating dry eye wherein the flow of naturally occurring secretion to the eye is reduced or stopped due to the presence of an obstruction of a meibomian gland in an eyelid having a plurality of meibomian glands comprising:

imaging at least one meibomian gland of the plurality of meibomian glands to diagnose a condition of the at least one meibomian gland;

treating the at least one meibomian gland to remove an obstruction from the at least one meibomian gland; and

re-imaging the at least one meibomian gland to verify that the obstruction has been removed;

wherein at least one of the imaging and re-imaging is carried out while pressure is applied to the eyelid that simulates an amount of pressure caused by blinking the eyelid; and

wherein at least one of the imaging and the re-imaging comprises imaging of at least a portion of a central duct of the at least one meibomian gland that is located below an orifice of the at least one meibomian gland to allow visualization of a flow or lack of flow of secretory material from within or through the central duct when the pressure is applied to the eyelid.

18. A method of evaluating dry eye wherein the flow of naturally occurring secretion to the eye is reduced or stopped due to the presence of an obstruction of a meibomian gland in an eyelid having a plurality of meibomian glands comprising:

applying a pressure to the eyelid that mimics pressure applied during blinking; and

simultaneously imaging at least one meibomian gland of the plurality of meibomian glands to diagnose a condition of the at least one meibomian gland; and

wherein the imaging comprises imaging of at least a portion of a central duct of the at least one meibomian gland that is located below an orifice of the at least one meibomian gland to allow visualization of a flow or lack of flow of secretory material from within or through the central duct when the pressure is applied to the eyelid.

19. The method according to claim 18 , further comprising treating the meibomian gland to remove the obstruction from the gland; and re-imaging the gland to verify that the obstruction has been removed.

20. The method according to claim 18 wherein the imaging is carried out using at least one of VHF ultrasound imaging, OCT imaging, NIR optical imaging, infrared thermal imaging, trans-illumination imaging, and visible light photographic imaging of the eyelid surface.

21. A method of evaluating dry eye wherein the flow of naturally occurring secretion to the eye is reduced or stopped due to the presence of an obstruction of a meibomian gland in an eyelid comprising:

applying a pressure to the eyelid that mimics pressure applied during blinking;

simultaneously imaging the meibomian gland to diagnose a condition of the meibomian gland;

treating the meibomian gland to remove the obstruction from the meibomian gland;

re-imaging the meibomian gland to verify that the obstruction has been removed, wherein the imaging and re-imaging are carried out using an imaging process selected from a group comprising VHF ultrasound imaging, OCT imaging, NIR optical imaging, infrared thermal imaging, trans-illumination imaging, and visible light photographic imaging of a surface of the eyelid; and

wherein at least one of the imaging and the re-imaging comprises imaging of at least a portion of a central duct of the at least one meibomian gland that is located below an orifice of the at least one meibomian gland to allow visualization of a flow or lack of flow of secretory material from within or through the central duct when the pressure is applied to the eyelid.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein imagining at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging the central duct.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging at least one acinus.

24. The method of claim 1 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging the central duct and at least one acinus to allow visualization of whether secretory material flows from the at least one acinus to the central duct when the force is applied to the eyelid.

25. The method of claim 16 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging the central duct.

26. The method of claim 16 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging at least one acinus.

27. The method of claim 16 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging the central duct and at least one acinus to allow visualization of whether secretory material flows from the at least one acinus to the central duct when the force is applied to the eyelid.

28. The method of claim 17 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging the central duct.

29. The method of claim 17 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging at least one acinus.

30. The method of claim 17 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging the central duct and at least one acinus to allow visualization of whether secretory material flows from the at least one acinus to the central duct when the pressure is applied to the eyelid.

31. The method of claim 18 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging the central duct.

32. The method of claim 18 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging at least one acinus.

33. The method of claim 18 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging the central duct and at least one acinus to allow visualization of whether secretory material flows from the at least one acinus to the central duct when the pressure is applied to the eyelid.

34. The method of claim 21 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging the central duct.

35. The method of claim 21 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging at least one acinus.

36. The method of claim 21 , wherein imaging at least a portion of the central duct of the at least one meibomian gland comprises imaging the central duct and at least one acinus to allow visualization of whether secretory material flows from the at least one acinus to the central duct when the force is applied to the eyelid.