A new method for measuring progression in patients with ocular cicatricial pemphigoid.

OBJECTIVES To describe a method to measure the progression of ocular cicatricial pemphigoid and to compare its facility with traditional methods used to measure the progression of the disease. METHODS The proposed method consists of measuring (in millimeters) the total relative inferior conjunctival surface available in 3 gaze positions. This method was used to monitor 7 eyes of 4 patients with ocular cicatricial pemphigoid over 2 years. The changes in the conjunctival measurements from baseline were compared with the changes documented by traditional methods. RESULTS During the study, 2 eyes remained stable (changes, <3 mm), 2 had a decrease of 10 mm or more, and 3 had a change in measurements between 4 and 9 mm. With the proposed method, we demonstrated the detection of more subtle changes in the conjunctiva of all patients. Patients who had changes between 4 and 9 mm easily underwent staging by the traditional systems when the new technique was used as a reference. CONCLUSION The proposed method offers an objective variable that can be used in consecutive visits to detect subtle progression or disease control in patients with ocular cicatricial pemphigoid.