Surgical approach in a rare case of coloboma-choristoma.

Embryogenic eyelid defects can be isolated or associated with malformative diseases, such as Tessier craniofacial clefts. We describe the exceptional coexistence of upper eyelid coloboma and lower eyelid dermolipoma in a 45-day-old infant with a Tessier no. 0-1 cleft. The surgical intervention carried out on this patient, which used a flap of subconjunctival choristoma and grafting of reshaped cutaneous and tarsal portions of a preauricular anlage, is presented as a technique for correcting congenital palpebral coloboma. Adoption of this technique allowed virtually complete repair of the defect and gave an acceptable functional and cosmetic result.