Purpose: We employed intraoperative tarsorrhaphy depending on the degree of edema to treat moderate conjunctival chemosis during orbital fracture repair surgery.
Methods: This is a retrospective case review of 1367 patients (1384 eyes) who underwent orbital fracture repair surgery by a transconjunctival approach. All cases of moderate conjunctival chemosis during surgery were included and were divided into 2 groups. In one group, intraoperative tarsorrhaphy was performed immediately the chemosis reached a moderate degree and the conjunctiva was incarcerated by the lower eyelid margin; once severe chemosis developed, stitches were added to cover all of the prolapsed conjunctiva with a palpebral margin. In the second group, moderate chemosis was treated with bandage pressure without stitches even after appearance of severe chemosis. The time course of conjunctival edema was recorded.
Results: The incidence of moderate conjunctival chemosis in orbital reconstruction surgery by the transconjunctival approach was 9.4%. The average time for resolution of moderate chemosis in the tarsorrhaphy group (3.5 ± 1.4 days) was obviously shorter than in the bandage group (6.2 ± 1.9 days). The incidence of severe chemosis in the intraoperative tarsorrhaphy group (14.1%) was significantly lower than in the bandage group (31.8%). Overall, the total duration of severe chemosis in the tarsorrhaphy group was obviously shorter than that of the bandage group.
Conclusion: Intraoperative tarsorrhaphy was a highly effective method of treating moderate chemosis and preventing severe conjunctival chemosis during orbital fracture repair surgery.