Long-Term Effects of Frontalis Fascial Slings on the Elastic Properties of the Upper Eyelid.

PURPOSE: To measure the long-term effects of frontalis slings with fascial tissues on the downward eyelid saccadic movements Methods: Downward lid saccades for 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 degrees of downgaze were measured in a sample of 19 patients with congenital ptosis who underwent frontalis slings with fascia lata (autogenous and banked) and temporalis fascia. Mean postoperative time was 10.7 years ± 3.8 SD. Seventeen age-matched normal subjects comprised the control group. Lid movements as well as the magnitude of brow motion were quantified in all participants with an opto-electronic device that automatically corrected any head movement. RESULTS: Most patients (77.4%) displayed lagophthalmos on eyelid closure. The lid saccades of the patients were severely restricted and did not increase beyond 30 degrees of downgaze. The maximum velocity of lid saccades was also abnormally low. Although the pre- and postoperative lid positions did not differ between eyes operated with the three types of slings, interocular analysis of patients who had bilateral surgery showed that the restrictive effect on the saccadic movements was more asymmetrical with banked fascia than with autogenous tissue. Overall, there was a significant negative correlation between the surgical effect with frontalis contraction and maximum saccadic amplitude. While in controls brow motion accounted for about 3.3-9.3% of the lid saccades, it was responsible for more than 43.5-57.4% lid movements in the patients. CONCLUSION: Fascial slings have a permanent restrictive effect on the elastic properties of the lids. Postoperative lagophthalmos is a natural consequence of any type of fascial sling. Downward saccadic amplitude is negatively correlated with the surgical effect with frontalis contraction.

Spontaneous Blinking Kinematics in Patients Who Have Undergone Autogeneous Fascia Frontalis Suspension.

PURPOSE: To measure spontaneous blink metrics and brow motion in patients with congenital ptosis operated with frontalis slings with autogenous fascia lata. METHODS: An infrared three-dimensional video motion analyzer was employed to simultaneously measure brow motion and spontaneous blinks of 17 patients with congenital ptosis who underwent frontalis sling with autogenous fascia lata and a control group of equal number of healthy subjects. A customized software identified and quantified the amplitude and maximum velocity spontaneous blinks eyelid and brown motion during a 5-minute observation of a commercial movie. The corneal status of the patients with and without lagophthamos was evaluated with slit-lamp biomicroscopy with fluorescein staining. RESULTS: Lagophthalmos was detected on 13 (76.5%) patients. Out of these 3 (23%) showed signs of inferior superficial keratopathy despite the presence of normal (upwards) Bell's phenomenon in all of them. Blink rate was significantly diminished in the patients. The distribution of interblink time was similar in both groups. The mean amplitude of the down-phase of the patients' blinks was only 38% of the controls. The main sequence slope of the patients' blinks was abnormally low. In controls brow motion was a minute and random event no related to blinks. In the patients, the mean brow amplitude was five times higher than in controls reaching 45% of the blink amplitude. CONCLUSIONS: Spontaneous blink amplitude and velocity are severely impaired in patients with fascia lata autogenous slings. After surgery blinking amplitude is linearly related to the amplitude of brow motion.

Tarsal Glandular Hyperplasia in Pachydermoperiostosis and Implications for Ptosis Correction.

Pachydermoperiostosis is a rare genetic disease that causes major bone and skin changes. Severe ptosis is a prominent finding in this peculiar condition. We report here 2 patients with typical features of pachydermoperiostosis. Their tarsal plates were enlarged and infiltrated by sebaceous gland tissue. One patient also displayed diffuse intratarsal lacrimal gland hyperplasia. As far as we know, this is the first report of ectopic lacrimal tissue in pachydermoperiostosis. Tarsal and skin morphologic changes should be addressed during ptosis correction in these patients.

Aggravation of eyelid and conjunctival malignancies following photodynamic therapy in DeSanctis-Cacchione syndrome.

A 5-year-old girl with DeSanctis-Cacchione syndrome (a severe variant of xeroderma pigmentosum) was referred for evaluation of multiple eyelid and bulbar conjunctival squamous cell carcinomas. Examination evidenced multiple vegetating lesions on the eyelid, bulbar conjunctiva, and cornea of both eyes. As the lesions were considered not to be manageable by surgical excision and would have required exenteration, photodynamic therapy was performed on the patient's left eye. Three months after photodynamic therapy, the patient presented with a dramatic increase in the extension of the tumors. Since xeroderma pigmentosum is a DNA repair disorder, the radiation involved in photodynamic therapy probably played an iatrogenic role in the evolution of the case. We believe that photodynamic therapy may be harmful to patients with DNA repair disorders.

Análise bidimensional computadorizada da fenda palpebral / Computerized bidimensional analysis of the palpebral fissure

Objetivos: Utilizar o processamento digital de imagens para o estudo da fenda palpebral normal. Métodos: Foram analisadas 70 fendas de 23 sujeitos do sexo masculino e 47 do feminino, com idade variando de 10 a 60 anos. As imagens foram captadas com uma câmara CCD e transferidas para um microcomputador Macintosh. Com o programa NIH image as fendas palpebrais foram quantificadas medindo-se: 1) área, 2) largura, 3) altura e o ângulo entre o canto medial e o lateral, 4) curvatura do contorno palpebral superior e inferior e 5) a posiçäo do ponto mais alto do contorno superior e o mais baixo da inferior em relaçäo à linha média da fenda. Resultados: Os valores médios encontrados para a largura da fenda palpebral, altura do canto externo em relaçäo ao interno, distância das margens superior e inferior ao centro da pupila e altura da fenda palpebral foram concordantes com os referidos na literatura. Variáveis que nunca tinham sido medidas como o contorno das margens palpebrais, área da fenda palpebral e a posiçäo do ponto culminante da pálpebra superior e a do mais baixo da pálpebra inferior, foram facilmente quantificadas. Conclusöes: O processamento digital de imagem é um método simples e preciso de análise bidimensional e que possibilita refinadas medidas relacionada à morfologia da fenda palpebral.