Evaluation of the effect of eyelid disorder surgeries on tears and anterior segment parameters with meibography and corneal topography

Abstract

Background/Aim: Abnormalities of eyelid shape, including ptosis, entropion, ectropion, lagophthalmos, and dermatochalasis, can occur at any age and affects the patient’s life quality, visual functions, and comfort. These abnormalities can be regarded as illnesses and can be cured medically and surgically. Meibomian glands are large sebaceous glands located in the lower and upper eyelids. Our study aimed to observe changes in anterior cornea segment parameters and meibomian glands of patients undergoing surgery for eyelid shape abnormalities. Methods: Our sample comprised 31 patients, who were operated on at Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University Hospital, were examined with respect to cornea topographic measurements and the drop-out of meibomian glands at the pre-operative and first-month post-operative processes and post-operative third month. In this prospective cohort method study, the surgical eyes of the patients were determined as the study group and the healthy eyes as the control group. Results: Surgical and healthy eyes of 31 patients were included in this study (N=62). The sample comprised 18 male and 13 female patients. The average age and standard deviation values of patients were determined as 66.50 (17.315) in males and 65.92 (13.714) (P = 0.659) in females. In terms of anterior cornea segment parameters (K1, K2, ACA, ACD, ACV, and CCT), no prominent differences were found in pre-operative and post-operative results (K1, K2, ACA, ACD, ACV, and CCT) in both the study and control groups. Meibography revealed that the increased meibomian gland drop-out of surgical eye measurements of pre- and post-operative was statistically significant (P < 0.001), whereas the change seen in healthy eyes was not statistically significant (P = 0.051). Furthermore, although the change through meibomian glands of entropion patients was not significant (P = 0.066), the drop-out of the meibomian gland of the other surgery cases (ptosis, ectropion, lagophthalmos, blepharoplasty, and dermatochalasis surgery) was found to be statistically significant (P = 0.038). Conclusion: Surgeries to correct abnormalities in eyelid shape can lead patients to meibomian gland drop-out. Pre-operative assessment of patients whose surgeries are planned, and post-operative monitoring, must be done meticulously in order to minimize the likelihood of symptoms and avoid meibomian gland dysfunction.