Courtright P, Lewallen S
Department of Ophthalmology, University of British Columbia, St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada.
Lepr Rev. 1995 Sep;66(3):220-3. doi: 10.5935/0305-7518.19950024.
Existing data suggest that, at a minimum, 2% of paucibacillary patients and 5% of multibacillary patients have lagophthalmos; at least 290,000 people worldwide have leprosy-related lagophthalmos. Surgical intervention is the only method for correcting lagophthalmos; effectiveness of the different procedures commonly used has not been measured. Results from a survey of eye care providers revealed that surgeons in Asia used a wide range of different techniques for the correction of lagophthalmos while almost all of the surgeons in Africa used tarsorrhaphy. There is a need to evaluate surgical outcome of these techniques and to develop guidelines to assist in increasing the number of surgeries for lagophthalmos in leprosy patients.
