Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose:To determine the incidence of post-operative infection associated with blepharoplasty. Methods:A retrospective review was conducted of all patients who underwent blepharoplasty by seven surgeons over a period of three to 17 years. The study included patients who had undergone bilateral upper and/or lower blepharoplasty, with either a transcutaneous or transconjunctival approach and with or without laser resurfacing. Any case in which a post-operative infection had been diagnosed was analyzed in further detail. Results:A total of 1861 patients were included in the study. Of these, 1627 patients had blepharoplasty performed without associated CO2 laser skin resurfacing. In this subgroup, four post-operative infections, presumed bacterial in origin, were diagnosed clinically. All cases presented between four and seven days after surgery. Two cases presented with mild lid edema and erythema, a clinical picture difficult to distinguish from a suture reaction. The other two cases had wound dehiscence and a mild discharge in addition to pain and erythema. Orbital cellulitis did not occur in any patient. The cumulative incidence of infection for this group was 0.2%. The number of patients undergoing blepharoplasty with laser resurfacing was 234; in this subgroup, one possible infection, thought to be herpetic, was diagnosed clinically four days after surgery. The cumulative incidence of infection for this group was 0.4%. All cases were treated successfully with oral antibiotics. No patient required intravenous antibiotics, surgical exploration, debridement of the infection site, or hospitalization. None of the post-operative infections resulted in permanent functional or cosmetic sequelae. Conclusion:The incidence of infection following blepharoplasty without laser resurfacing is very low, indicating little need for prophylactic pre- or post-operative oral antibiotics.
Keywords: 410 eyelid • 354 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence • 328 bacterial disease