Endoscopic transnasal canaliculorhinostomy for refractory common canalicular obstruction with an unidentifiable lacrimal sac.

AIM: To describe the role of endoscopic transnasal canaliculorhinostomy (ETC) in refractory common canalicular obstruction (CCO) associated with an absent or unidentifiable lacrimal sac. METHODS: The records of patients with refractory CCO who underwent ETC at the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from October 2007 to December 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Fifty-six patients (56 eyes) with refractory CCO were recruited into the study. Eight patients were excluded due to the presence of a residual lacrimal sac or failure to complete the follow-up duration. The anatomic and functional success rates were both 85.4% (41/48) at a mean follow-up of 18.6mo. Five cases failed as a result of ostial synechia and two failed because of ostial obstruction by granulation. Postoperative complications included mild nasal bleeding in 5 cases, dried nasal feeling in 8 cases, and olfactory dysfunction in 4 cases. CONCLUSION: Although being surgically challenging, ETC has comparable findings to its external approach counterpart or conjunctivodacryocystorhinostomy (CDCR) with Jones tube. And it may prove to be a novel alternate surgical technique for patients with refractory CCO without identifiable lacrimal sac.

Optimizing esthetic outcomes in graded full-thickness anterior blepharotomy for Graves' ophthalmopathy.

PURPOSE: Current outcome measures do not adequately address the esthetic aspect of the surgical outcome of anterior blepharotomy for Graves' ophthalmopathy. This study aims to highlight the role of tarsal platform show (TPS) in optimizing the esthetic outcome of graded full-thickness anterior blepharotomy for dysthyroid upper eyelid retraction in an ethnic Chinese population. METHODS: The records of patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy who underwent anterior blepharotomy for upper eyelid retraction over a period of 30 months were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Fifty-five patients (77 eyelids) with upper eyelid retraction underwent anterior blepharotomy. A statistically significant decrease in marginal reflex distance (MRD1) and lagophthalmos and significant increase in TPS following anterior blepharotomy was observed. A significantly higher proportion of patients who underwent unilateral anterior blepharotomy had TPS asymmetry post-operatively as compared to the bilateral group (p < 0.001). Using logistic regression, the study found that for every 1-mm change in MRD1, there was approximately a 1.045-mm change in TPS. The mean percentage increase in TPS observed in our study was 303.1 ± 191% due to the low pre-operative TPS seen in Asian patients. CONCLUSIONS: To achieve the most ideal surgical outcome in graded full-thickness anterior blepharotomy, the surgeon will need to consider not only eyelid height but also the subsequent TPS change. The surgeon needs to be mindful of the relationship between MRD1 change and TPS change to optimize esthetic outcome as well as symmetry. Special considerations need to be taken in unilateral cases as well as patients with low pre-operative TPS.

Integrated and Stepwise Epicanthoplasty Combined with Blepharoplasty (ISEB) in an Ethnic Chinese Population.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of the integrated and stepwise epicanthoplasty combined with blepharoplasty (ISEB) technique in an ethnic Asian population. METHOD: The medical records of patients who underwent ISEB at the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University over a period of 36 months were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 104 patients (208 eyelids) were included in this study with ages ranging from 16 to 36 years old (mean 21.2 ± 2.8 years) and follow-up duration ranging from 6 months to 26 months (mean 9.7 ± 4.1 months). All patients achieved cosmetically desirable and natural appearances with adequate lacrimal caruncle exposure and horizontal lengthening of palpebral fissure. At the 6-month follow-up, there was no or minimal visible scarring in the medial canthal region. Postoperative evaluation at least 6 months following surgery showed that 98.1% (102/104) of patients felt that their surgical results were good or excellent. No recurrences of the epicanthal fold or disturbances of lacrimal function occurred throughout the follow-up period. CONCLUSION: The ISEB is a novel surgical technique that is effective in dealing with vector forces during epicanthoplasty in combination with blepharoplasty and has been shown to be a practical and reliable method with good aesthetic outcomes. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE V: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

The impact of orbital bony or fat decompression on the outcome of strabismus surgery in patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: To compare the outcomes of strabismus surgery in patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) who had undergone bone removal orbital decompression (BROD) or fat removal orbital decompression (FROD) with those who had not undergone any orbital decompression. METHODS: The records of patients with GO who underwent strabismus surgery over a period of 66 months were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Eighty-nine patients with a mean age of 55.1 ± 11.9 years were identified in this study. Twenty-two patients had prior BROD, 20 patients had prior FROD and 47 patients had no orbital decompression. Patients who had prior orbital decompression had an average of 1.6 strabismus surgeries per patient which was significantly higher compared to 1.2 strabismus surgeries in patients who had no orbital decompression (p = 0.02). The overall success rate of strabismus surgery was 68.2%, 80.0% and 80.9% following BROD, FROD and no orbital decompression respectively. The overall success rate of strabismus surgeries in patients with GO was 61% after the first surgery and 78% after the final surgery. CONCLUSION: The management of strabismus in GO is complex and difficult. Prior orbital decompression is associated with more strabismus surgeries per patient with a trend towards a lower success rate for strabismus surgery. FROD is comparable to BROD with regards to its effects on the outcome of subsequent strabismus surgeries.

Pseudoexfoliation syndrome at a Singapore eye clinic.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the demographics of pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PXF) and pseudoexfoliative glaucoma (PXG) in a Singapore hospital eye outpatient clinic. METHODS: A retrospective study of 93 consecutive patients (146 eyes) with PXF was undertaken by a single ophthalmologist over a period of 37 months (July 1, 2006, to July 31, 2009). RESULTS: Ninety-three (2.8%) of 3,297 patients seen during the study period were diagnosed with PXF. Forty-three (46.2%) of the 93 PXF patients were male. Indians were 5.04 times more likely to develop PXF than Chinese (P<0.001, 95% confidence interval 3.05-8.33), while Malays were 2.22 times more likely to develop PXF as compared with Chinese (P=0.029, 95% CI 1.08-4.55). Twenty-two (23.7%) of the 93 PXF patients had PXG at the time of diagnosis. There was no statistically significant difference in mean age between PXF and PXG patients. There was a larger proportion of males with PXG than females (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: PXF is not infrequent in elderly Singapore eye clinic patients, and is more likely to occur in Indians than in Chinese. In the Singapore eye clinic setting, males may be more likely to develop PXG, although larger studies will be required to confirm this.