Cross-sectional cohort study.
Medical records of 1713 consecutive subjects who received cosmetic wide conjunctivectomy plus postoperative topical mitomycin C by a single surgeon at a single center with or without bevacizumab injection from November 2007 to May 2010 were reviewed. A telephone interview was conducted with 557 of the subjects who could be contacted and agreed to participate in the study. Complications, recurrences, and patient satisfaction were the main outcome measures.
A total of 1713 consecutive patients underwent cosmetic wide conjunctivectomy to treat conjunctival hyperemia. Ocular diagnoses in the medical records at the time of surgery included hyperemia (8.8 % ), pterygium (14.0 % ), dry eye (3.5 % ), pinguecula (1.5 % ), and conjunctival disorder (23.3 % ). For the remaining 48.9 % of subjects, the diagnosis was not mentioned, or the surgical procedure was for cosmetic purposes. Patients were followed for a mean of 10.9?months (range, 0-30.3?months). The overall complication rate was 82.9 % , of which 55.6 % were considered severe (fibrovascular conjunctival tissue proliferation, 43.8 % ; scleral thinning, 4.4 % ; scleral thinning with calcified plaques, 6.2 % ; intraocular pressure elevation, 13.1 % ; diplopia, 3.6 % ; and recurrence of hyperemic conjunctiva, 28.1 % ).
Cosmetic wide conjunctivectomy plus postoperative topical mitomycin C with or without bevacizumab injection has a high rate of complications and reoperations.