Surgical outcome of involutional lower eyelid entropion correction using transcutaneous everting sutures in Chinese patients

Abstract

To evaluate the clinical efficacy of transcutaneous everting sutures for lower eyelid involutional entropion in Chinese patients. A retrospective, non-comparative, interventional case series. This retrospective study consecutively reviewed the medical records of all patients with involutional lower eyelid entropion who underwent transcutaneous everting suture for entropion correction at the Department of Ophthalmology, Caritas Medical Centre, from 1st January 2010 to 31st October 2013. Exclusion criteria included concurrent eyelid pathologies such as malignant tumor, infection, cicatricial entropion, post-operative follow-up period of <3 months, significant horizontal lid laxity, and aged <60 years at the time of surgery. The primary outcome measures were recurrence rate and complications. Secondary outcome measures included patient demographic data, type and number of everting sutures, duration of operation, timing of stitch removal, duration of follow-up, as well as each patient's medical history and current medications. Thirty-four eyelids of 28 patients were included. The average age was 78.2 +/- 7.3 years and the male to female ratio was 4:3. In this series, 26.5 and 2.9 % of eyelids underwent entropion correction whilst receiving aspirin and warfarin, respectively. The mean duration of post-operative follow-up was 13.2 +/- 10.5 months. The recurrence rate was 11.8 % at a mean of 9.0 +/- 6.0 months. There were no peri-operative or post-operative complications observed. A transcutaneous everting suture was found to be a quick and effective means to correct senile involutional lower lid entropion in Chinese patients with no complications despite the continued use of anti-coagulation therapy in >25 % of our cases.