SIMPLE LIMBAL EPITHELIAL TRANSPLANT (SLET) FOR OCULAR SURFACE RECONSTRUCTION FOLLOWING THERMAL INJURY

Published 2022 - 26th ESCRS Winter Meeting

Reference: CR22 | Type: Cornea Day Case Presentations | DOI: 10.82333/qsw8-8r35

Authors: Sathish Srinivasan ¹ , Ahmed Ali* ¹

¹Dept of Ophthalmology,University Hospital Ayr,Ayr,United Kingdom

To report the clinical features, surgical technique and outcome following simple limbal epithelial transplant (SLET) in a patient with prior thermal injury with limbal ischaemia.

Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Ayr, Ayr, Scotland, UK

49 year old Caucasian male with no prior ocular history attended the corneal clinic in March 2020 following an assault. • Mixture of hot water and sugar was thrown over face resulting in ocular thermal injury. • Visual acuity at presentation was hand movements in the injured left eye and 6/7.5 (Snellen)(LogMAR 0.1) in the right eye, with normal intraocular pressures bilaterally. • Examination revealed superficial peri-ocular skin burn and ocular surface injury. • A degree of limbal ischaemia was suspected due to associated chemosis and the 100% corneal epithelial defect. • Management: preservative-free Dexamethasone and Chloramphenicol • Per Oral Doxycycline and Vitamin C tablets. Compliance issues with the prescribed drops over the following months. • 3 months post-injury: central corneal epithelial defect and 360 degrees of corneal neovascularization. •Visual acuity: hand movements. •6 months post-injury: severe secondary corneal neovascularization, chronic epithelial defect and limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD) Patient underwent simple limbal epithelial transplant

•SLET is a more convenient treatment option in comparison to earlier techniques for the management of unilateral LSCD. •Particularly effective in patients with chemical or thermal injuries. In this case SLET resulted in restoring the ocular surface anatomy.