Bilateral lid/brow elevation procedure for severe ptosis in Kearns-Sayre syndrome, a mitochondrial cytopathy

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this work was to determine the effectiveness and possible complications encountered with bilateral fascia lata lid suspension used to correct blepharoptosis in patients with Kearns-Sayre syndrome. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of seven patients with Kearns-Sayre syndrome who had a minimum of 1 year of follow-up. A bilateral fascia lata sling was used to correct the ptosis. Preoperative and postoperative measurements of the vertical lid fissure width (VFW) and marginal reflex distance (MRD) were performed. The Student’s t-test was used to analyze the results. RESULTS: The mean preoperative VFW and MRD measurements were 4±2.45 mm and 0.14±0.92 mm, respectively. The mean postoperative VFW and MRD measurements were 7.71±1.85 mm, and 2.86±1.69 mm, respectively. All preoperative and postoperative values were considered to be statistically significant (P<0.01). Adequate elevation of the lids was obtained in all patients, both functionally and aesthetically. All of the patients showed a mild symmetric postoperative inferior version lagophthalmos, and one patient developed corneal ulceration and scarring due to corneal exposure and a weak Bell’s phenomenon. CONCLUSION: The surgical technique described to correct the blepharoptosis found in patients with Kearns-Sayre syndrome was found to be efficient and relatively safe. The correction should be conservative to decrease the risk of postoperative corneal damage that occurred in one patient.