Reconstructive blepharoplasty following eyelid melanoma excision using a sliding skin flap in six horses

Abstract

SummaryMelanomas are common in grey horses, and the eyelid is one of the less common predilection sites. The eyelids play an important role in maintaining ocular health, and damage to the eyelid margin can lead to ocular complications, including ocular pain, conjunctivitis and ulcerative keratitis. Surgical procedures to remove eyelid tumours, therefore, often require reconstruction techniques to re‐establish the eyelid's appearance and function. The sliding skin flap is a simple surgical technique that can be applied to close the defect resulting from surgical excision of eyelid tumours such as melanomas, but there is little published data about the short‐ and long‐term outcomes of this procedure in the horse. This case report reviews six horses where a sliding skin flap was used to reconstruct the eyelid after excision of discrete eyelid melanomas, with short‐ and long‐term follow‐up of the cases. Short‐term complications (including corneal abrasion from a suture) were uncommon (two cases), and there were no reported long‐term complications (follow‐up period 6 months to 13 years), with no melanoma recurrence at the surgical site. However, new melanoma development at other sites of the body occurred in several cases.