Tape Splint Tarsorrhaphy For Persistent Corneal Epithelial Defects

Published 2022 - 40th Congress of the ESCRS

Reference: PP20.01 | Type: Free paper | DOI: 10.82333/8d8a-zt35

Authors: Michael Mimouni* ¹ , Eugene Liu ² , Nizar Din ² , Larissa Gouvea ² , Sara AlShaker ² , Eyal Cohen ² , Dooho Kim ³ , Clara Chan ²

¹Department of Ophthalmology,Rambam Health Care Campus,Haifa,Israel, ²Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences,University of Toronto,Toronto,Canada, ³Professional Eye Associates,Dalton,United States

Purpose

To report outcomes of tape splint tarsorrhaphy (TST) for persistent corneal epithelial defects (PCED).

Setting

Tertiary cornea clinic.

Methods

Consecutive patients with a PCED (≥14 days) treated at a tertiary cornea clinic with a TST were assessed. Included were patients with a corneal epithelial defect that did not respond to treatment with a bandage contact lens. Excluded were patients with a follow-up time of less than three months. The main outcome measure was time to PCED resolution.

Results

Thirty-four eyes (n=33), mean age of 62.9±17.8 years were included in this study. The etiologies of the PCED were post keratoplasty (n=15), herpes simplex virus (n=4), superficial keratectomy (n=3), neurotrophic cornea (n=4), fungal keratitis (n=2), exposure keratopathy (n=2), failed graft (n=1), peripheral ulcerative keratitis (n=1), rosacea (n=1) and stitch abscess (n=1). Time from PCED presentation to TST was 58.9±106.3 days with the area of the PCED being 25.1±15.7 mm² (range 0.50 to 42.0mm²). Following TST, resolution of the PCED was achieved in 29/34 eyes (85.3%) without the need for additional interventions within 22.5±24.3 days (range 2 to 105 days). logMAR BCVA significantly improved from 1.11±0.41 to 0.83±0.70 (p=0.02).

Conclusions

Tape splint tarsorrhaphy achieved resolution of PCEDs secondary to various etiologies in 85.3% of eyes with a significant improvement in vision demonstrated. This simple, inexpensive, non-invasive technique may be considered for patients with PCEDs.