Changes in Area of Conjunctiva and Tear Meniscus Measured Using Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography after Conjunctivochalasis Surgery

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate cross-sectional areas of conjunctiva and tear meniscus of conjunctivochalasis using Fourier-Domain RTVue-100 optical coherence tomography (OCT) before and after conjunctivochalasis surgery. METHODS: Thirty-one patients (33 eyes) with symptomatic conjunctivochalasis were recruited for this study between June 2013 and April 2014. All patients underwent crescent-shaped conjunctiva resection and amniotic membrane transplantation. Anterior segment OCT (AS-OCT) imaging was performed and tear break-up time was evaluated prior to and 3 months after the conjunctivochalasis surgery. Cross-sectional areas of conjunctiva and tear meniscus of conjunctivochalasis at 7 locations (1 center, 3 nasal and 3 temporal areas) were measured in all patients. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 66.3 +/- 10.8 years. Cross-sectional areas of conjunctivochalasis at all locations significantly decreased from 0.487 +/- 0.42 mm2 to 0.007 +/- 0.011 mm2 (p < 0.001), whereas no significant changes in cross-sectional areas of tear meniscus at all 7 locations were observed after the surgery. Mean tear break-up time significantly increased from 2.26 +/- 0.69 sec to 3.81 +/- 1.22 sec following the surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Using AS-OCT, in this study we showed that areas of conjunctiva decreased and areas of tear meniscus were unchanged after conjunctivochalasis surgery.