Treatment of upper eyelid entropion. Lid split surgery and fibrin sealing of free skin transplants.

The repair of severe upper eyelid entropion with trichiasis was reported early in ophthalmological literature; a historical review of the main operative techniques is provided. The aim of treatment is to bring the eyelashes away from the lid margin. Recent procedures use an upward transposition of the anterior lamella, which is performed by a lid split technique. The free anterior tarsal surface must be covered by a free, autologous skin graft or mucous-membrane graft to stabilize the free lid margin and to prevent the tarsal plate from shrinking. A fibrin-sealing method is used for the fixation of the graft on the tarsus, thus making sutures unnecessary. The anterior tarsal surface is covered by the fibrin-glued transplant, which prevents the posterior lamella from shrinking and does not allow the lashes to descend to the lid margin again. The results of using this new method on seven patients are presented.