The therapeutic effect of IPL on children with refractory seasonal allergic conjunctivitis.

Objective: To observe the effectiveness of intense pulsed light(IPL) treatment as an adjuvant treatment of refractory seasonal allergic conjunctivitis in children.

Methods: A total of 31 patients with refractory seasonal allergic conjunctivitis who did not respond well to anti-allergic drug treatment were randomly selected to receive drug therapy combined with IPL treatment (17 patients) and drug treatment alone (14 patients) for 1 week, and the ocular surface symptom questionnaire and ocular surface sign score were performed before and after treatment, respectively.

Result: After treatment, the IPL group had significantly lower scores in eye rubbing, blinking, eye itching, discharge, tearing, and total scores than before treatment (P < 0.05), while there was no significant difference in foreign body sense scores before and after treatment (P > 0.05). There were no significant differences in eye rubbing, blinking, eye itching, discharge, foreign body sensation, tearing, and total score between the control group after treatment (P > 0.05). After treatment, the scores of ocular signs in the IPL group and the control group were lower than those before treatment, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.01).

Conclusion: IPL therapy is effective in improving ocular surface symptoms in children with refractory seasonal allergic conjunctivitis, especially in suppressing eye itching, with good results.