Are the Meibomian glands “hair follicles without a hair shaft” ?

September 2010 in “ Acta Ophthalmologica ”

Eva Knop, Nadja Knop

Meibomian glands hair follicles keratinization cytokeratins CK14 CK10 epithelial cornification

TLDR Meibomian glands are like hair follicles without a hair shaft.

The study investigated the structural similarities between Meibomian glands (MG) and hair follicles, focusing on their development and keratinization processes. Using conjunctival whole-mounts from 10 human donors, the research found that the MG's excretory duct is similar to hair follicles, with shared expression of cytokeratins like CK14 and CK10. The MG ductal system showed signs of incipient keratinization, suggesting that MGs are essentially "hair follicles without a hair shaft," where full epithelial cornification is blocked during development but may occur under pathological conditions.

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community Everyone is ignoring that plasma finasteride levels are 100x lower with topical compared to oral.

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community No fearmongering /just facts on yesterday someone posting on eye issues

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