Abstract
Purpose :
Many ocular surgeries or intraocular procedures need to go through the ocular surface (OS) to get the target and could alter the OS anatomy, as could happens in glaucoma, retinal or cataract surgeries. Also, there are some surgical procedures that are specifically designed to alter the cornea, improving their refractive power or their biomechanics, as happens with refractive surgeries, intracorneal rings/segments, and cross-linking procedures.
The purpose of this work was to review and describe which ophthalmic surgeries or procedures are more frequently associated with OS patients' complaints.
Methods :
A retrospective clinical study was performed, reviewing clinical charts from new patients who were evaluated in the OS service (in a private ophthalmic clinic; Paraná, Entre Ríos - Argentina), from January 2006 to November 2019.
Were included patients with OS complaints possibly associated with previous ophthalmic surgery or intraocular procedure (as laser capsulotomy, laser retinal photocoagulation or intravitreal injections), with 6 months or more of history of any kind of ocular procedure. The OS complaints to include the patients were defined as burning, dryness, foreign body sensation, and/or itching. Cases were excluded if the only complaint was “bad vision”.
The presence of OS problem or disease was evaluated by slit-lamp with fluorescein dye, break-up time and Schirmer, and each test was graded as “mild, moderate or severe”, accordingly to their severity of affection.
Results :
From a total of 1842 patients evaluated in the OS service, 197 cases (10.69%; 102 women and 95 men), were secondary to OS complaints possibly related to ocular surgeries or procedures. Their potential association is shown in Figure 1. All the tests were normal in 18 cases (9.13%), and the grade of severity is shown in Figure 2.
Conclusions :
In the present study, 10.69% of the patients attended in an OS service in Entre Ríos, Argentina, were due to OS complaints potentially associated or secondary to previous ophthalmic surgeries or procedures. The most frequent was corneal refractive surgery, followed by cataract surgery and intravitreal injections. Interestingly, the OS tests performed were normal in 9.13% of the cases.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.