Patent ID: 8249695

Claim:
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.