Frontalis muscle flap eyelid reanimation technique in adults with severe ptosis or apraxia of eyelid opening.

Purpose: Assessment of the frontalis muscle flap eyelid reanimation surgical technique for adults with severe ptosis and apraxia of eyelid opening.

Methods: A retrospective case series of 30 eyes with severe ptosis or apraxia of eyelid opening. Outcomes were assessed for margin to reflex distance 1 (MRD1), lagophthalmos, complications, and need for subsequent surgical intervention. A paired t-test was used to compare preoperative and postoperative scores of a quality-of-life questionnaire.

Results: Thirty eyes of 19 patients underwent surgery, 16 (53%) with combined frontalis + levator-Muller muscle flap and 14 (46%) with frontalis muscle flap alone. There were 14 female and 5 male patients, with an average age of 55 years (range, 18-76). Mean preoperative MRD1 was -0.6 mm (range, -5 to 2) with mean levator excursion of 7.1 mm. Seventeen eyes had a myogenic etiology, five had a paralytic etiology, six had blepharospasm with apraxia of lid opening, and two had a neurodegenerative etiology. Nineteen eyes (63%) had previously undergone ptosis repair. Mean postoperative MRD1 was 2.5 mm (range, 0.5 to 5) at mean follow-up of 63.3 days. There were no serious surgical complications; minor complications included ocular surface keratopathy and one patient who required surgical revision. Results of the QOL questionnaire indicated significant improvement in vision-related symptoms postoperatively (p = 0.02).

Conclusions: Use of the frontalis muscle flap eyelid reanimation technique, with or without a levator-Muller retractor muscle flap, was very effective in this case series and provided good upper eyelid position with acceptable corneal protection and high patient satisfaction.