Graz 1999.

Methods	Study Design: parallel group randomised trial of epilation versus sticking tape. Eyes: in bilateral cases both eyes were treated the same way and the data from both included in the analysis. The authors combined the data from both eyes to give a single 'clinical status' outcome.
Participants	Country: China Setting: hospital and home Number of participants: 57 (68 eyes) Lost to follow up: 0 Male: 20, Female: 37
Interventions	(1) Epilation alone for 12 weeks (2) Sticking plaster for 12 weeks (3) Sticking plaster for 8 weeks, followed by cross‐over to epilation
Outcomes	Successful outcome: no lashes touching the eye. Secondary outcomes: visual acuity by Snellen E‐chart, corneal status, patient‐reported symptoms by questionnaire. Follow up: 3 months
Notes	The group that had sticking plaster for 8 weeks followed by epilation has been excluded from our analysis as this group received both interventions. Funder: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No description.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No description.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Personnel not masked; performance risk possible.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Observer not masked. Quote "A blinded design was not possible for obvious reasons, but data entry and analysis were blinded."
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Data complete.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Data complete.