Surgical treatment of upper eyelid coloboma

AIM: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the results obtained in the surgical treatment of upper eyelid coloboma with methods that do not involve a prolonged occlusion of the eye. MATERIAL OF STUDY: We treated five patients aged between 7 months and 21 years; the surgical techniques adopted were the direct closure (2 patients), the full-thickness graft from the contralateral upper eyelid (2 patients) and the nasal chondromucosal flap (1 patient). RESULTS: The results were good in all patients with vitality of all grafts and flaps; also absent were hematomas, seromas and infections. None of the patients developed amblyopia and lagophthalmos. DISCUSSION: The use of these methods prevents the development of some complications, such as amblyopia, occurring with the use of other techniques, as shown in the literature. In addition, allowing the reconstruction with similar tissues or very flexible and thin tissues provides greater functionality to the new eyelid. CONCLUSIONS: When possible, early intervention with the use of the described techniques will provide good results in the short and long term, allowing to avoid minimal complications which may arise from a prolonged occlusion of one eye.