Objective To study the therapeutic effect of abacterial acupuncture needle probing for obstructive meibomain gland dysfunction （O-MGD）. Methods This was a prospective randomized， controlled trial. A total of 61 patients （122 eyes） with O-MGD were selected and were randomly divided into an observation group （62 eyes） and control group （60 eyes）. Patients in the observation group were treated with abacterial acupuncture needle probing with artificial tears， while patients in the control group were treated with meibomian gland massage combined with artificial tears. The tear break-up time （BUT）， Schirmer Ⅰ test （SⅠt）， corneal fluorescein staining （CFS）， ocular surface disease index （OSDI） and the meibomian gland score were measured for all patients before treatment and 2 and 4 weeks after treatment. Results Insignificant differences were observed between the groups for all clinical test indexes before treatment. The value of CFS and the meibomian gland score after treatment were significantly lower than those before treatment （F=118.1， 474.6， P<0.05）， while the value of BUT and SⅠt were significantly higher than those before treatment （F=67.8， 54.8， P<0.05）. At 2 and 4 weeks after treatment， the values of CFS， OSDI and the meibomian gland score in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group （F=58.5， 8.2， 206.8， P<0.05）， while the values of BUT and SⅠt in the observation group were higher than those in the control group （F=300.2， 8.7， P<0.05）. After 2 and 4 weeks of treatment， the overall effective rates in the observation group were 98.4% and 95.2%， which were statistically significant compared to 25.0% and 21.7% in the control group （Z=7.73， 7.76， P<0.01）. Conclusion Both abacterial acupuncture needle probing and meibomian gland massage combined with artificial tears have effects on O-MGD， while the abacterial acupuncture needle probing is more effective.