Follow-Up Methods and the Apparent Success of Entropion Surgery

Abstract

To determine if follow-up methods affect the apparent success rate of the surgical repair of involutional entropion. A review of articles published in English between 1939 and 1997, and a review of a series of 112 patients who underwent entropion repair with a combination of a tarsal strip procedure, a partial pretarsal orbiculectomy, and creation of an eyelid crease. Only ten of 104 published reports contained information on the method by which follow-up data were attained. The apparent success rate of surgery in the case series declined in proportion to the effort made to detect unsuccessful cases. Long-term follow-up office examinations revealed cases of residual postoperative entropion that had not been detected by spontaneous patient complaints or by telephone interviews. Future reports on the results of entropion repair should include long-term follow-up that includes physical examination with testing to provoke latent entropion.