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Choi, Seo, and Kim: The Comparison of Punctoplasty and Silicone Tube Intubation in Patients with Punctal Obstruction
Original Article

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2008;49(4):543-547.

Published online: 7 September 2008

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2008.49.4.543

The Comparison of Punctoplasty and Silicone Tube Intubation in Patients with Punctal Obstruction

Chang Uk Choi, M.D., Sang Woo Seo, M.D., Sang Duck Kim, M.D.

Department of Ophthalmology, Wonkwang University of Medicine, Iksan, Korea

Address reprint requests to Sang Duck Kim, M.D. Department of Ophthalmology, Wonkwang University of Medicine #344-2 Shinyong-dong, Iksan-si, Chonbuk 570-711, Korea Tel: 82-63-859-1380, Fax: 82-63-855-1801, E-mail: sangduck@wonkwang.ac.kr

Received 6 March 2007       Accepted 10 October 2007

Copyright © 2008 Korean Ophthalmological Society

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

To compare surgical results of two patient groups with punctal obstruction. One group underwent punctoplasty while the other group underwent silicone tube intubation.

Methods

We compared postoperatively 48 eyes of 37 patients with punctal obstruction within and after one year of the procedure. 24 eyes of 17 patients had punctoplasty and 24 eyes of 20 patients had silicone tube intubation by the same surgeon.

Results

Upon follow-up within one year after the punctoplasty, 13 eyes (54%) showed no epiphora, nine eyes (38%) showed intermittent epiphora, and two eyes (8%) showed persistent epiphora. However, after silicone tube intubation, 20 eyes (83%) showed no epiphora, three eyes (13%) showed intermittent epiphora, and one eye (4%) showed persistent epiphora. Over one year after the punctoplasty, one eye (4%) showed no epiphora, 19 eyes (78%) showed intermittent epiphora, and four eyes (17%) showed persistent epiphora. However, after the silicone tube intubation, 17 eyes (71%) showed no epiphora, six eyes (25%) showed intermittent epiphora, and one eye (4%) showed persistent epiphora.

Conclusions

Silicone tube intubation is more effective than punctoplasty in the long term treatment of punctal obstruction.

Keywords: Epiphora, Punctal obstruction, Punctoplasty, Silicone tube intubation

References

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Figure 1.
A vertical snip incision was made at the lateral aspect of the posterior rim of the punctum.
jkos-49-543f1.tif
Figure 2.
A second vertical snip incision was made on the medial aspect of the posterior rim of the punctum.
jkos-49-543f2.tif
Figure 3.
A incised posterior flap of the punctum was excised by a horizontal third snip.
jkos-49-543f3.tif
Table 1.
Characteristics of patients distribution
Surgery Sex Number of patients (eyes)
Punctoplasty male 11 (7)
female 13 (10)
Silicone tube intubatio on male 8 (6)
female 16 (14)
Table 2.
Surgical results of punctoplasty and silicone tub intubation within 1 year
Result No. of eye (%)
Three snip procedure Silicone tube intubation
Free of epiphora 13 (54%) 20 (83%)
Intermittent epiphora 9 (38%) 3 (13%)
Epiphora 2 (8%) 1 (4%)

p-value was 0.0004 by Chi-Square test.

Table 3.
Surgical results of punctoplasty and silicone tub intubation over than 1 year
Result No. of eye (%)
Three snip procedure Silicone tube intubation
Free of epiphora 1 (4%) 17 (71%)
Intermittent epiphora 19 (79%) 6 (25%)
Epiphora 4 (17%) 1 (4%)

p-value was 0.0000 by Chi-Square test.

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