Future regenerative therapies for corneal disease.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To highlight the progress and future direction of stem-cell based regenerative therapies for the treatment of corneal disease. RECENT FINDINGS: Corneal stem cell-based therapies, such as limbal stem cell transplantation, corneal stromal stem cell transplantation, endothelial stem cell transplantation, and stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles have demonstrated promising results in the laboratory. Although most are still in preclinical development or early phase clinical trials, these stem cell-based therapies hold potential to facilitate tissue regeneration, restore native function, and inhibit pathologic disease processes such as fibrosis, inflammation, and neovascularization. SUMMARY: Stem cell-based therapy offers a promising therapeutic option that can circumvent several of the challenges and limitations of traditional surgical treatment. This concise review summarizes the progress in stem-cell based therapies for corneal diseases along with their history, underlying mechanisms, limitations, and future areas for development.

Anatomic approximation approach to correction of transverse facial clefts.

Transverse clefts of the oral cavity have significant impacts on both appearance and function. Many methods of repair have been described, but there is no consensus on optimal approach. In addition, dissatisfaction with scars, distortion of appearance, and recurrent deformity have led to complex surgical designs that are difficult to understand and reproduce. We describe a simple approach to repair that is based upon anatomic approximation of lip components and accurate repair of the muscle. Twenty patients underwent repair by the senior author, who devised the approach, and the corresponding author, who adopted it. Eight (62%) patients had right-sided clefts, three (23%) patients had left-sided clefts, and two (15%) patients had bilateral clefts. One patient had an associated branchial cleft remnant, two patients had multiple branchial cleft remnants and tragus deformities, one patient had craniofacial microsomia with microtia, and one patient had a contralateral Tessier 1 cleft. Mean age of the patients at repair was 23 months. All patients achieved normal oral competence, have favorable scars and commissure appearance, and have had no recurrent deformity. None of the patients have required revision. The described surgical approach is reproducible, easy to understand, and can produce favorable outcomes.

An unusual cause of caustic burns.

Two children in far northern Western Australia tattooed their arms with maangga berries (Grevillea pyramidalis ssp. leucadendron), which resulted in unintentional, caustic, partial thickness skin burns requiring specialist burn care. An understanding of the chemistry of the burn agent (5-n-alkyl resorcinol), appropriate first aid management and referral, and possible physiological sequelae are essential for optimal medical management and preventive community education.