Abstract
Purpose:
To report the outcomes of our unique surgical technique for removal of congenital conjunctival choristomas.
Methods:
Retrospective case series of seven consecutive patients who underwent congenital conjunctival choristoma removal at our institution and who had at least 1 month of follow-up care. In all cases, a conjunctival sparing technique was used. For extensive lesions, only the visible portion was excised. All cases were performed in conjunction with an oculoplastic surgeon to help preserve vital anatomy, including rectus muscles, lacrimal glands, and eyelid structures. Outcome measures included visual acuity, complications, and cosmetic appearance, as assessed by photography and reported satisfaction (parent and patient (when applicable)).
Results:
Seven eyes of seven subjects, aged 13 months to 28 years, underwent surgical removal of a congenital conjunctival choristoma at our institution. Of these lesions, six involved a portion of the cornea and limbus, two involved the lateral canthus, and four were located in the area of a rectus muscle. Three patients had Goldenhar’s syndrome. For patients old enough to undergo visual acuity testing, average pre-operative and most recent visual acuity measurements were 0.46 and 0.29, respectively. The average change in visual acuity revealed an improvement of -0.17 logMAR. All subjects (patients and/or parents) reported cosmetic improvement. No serious complications were noted.
Conclusions:
In all patients in our series, our surgical technique preserved visual acuity and improved the cosmetic appearance of the eye. Furthermore, there were no serious complications in any case.