OSSN in South India: Clinical presentation, treatment outcomes, and histopathologic correlations.

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the clinical presentation, treatment outcomes, and histopathology features of ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN) in a South Indian population and correlate the area of lesions to the histopathological grade/severity of carcinoma in situ (CIN) and squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) invasive and noninvasive tumors.

Methods: The study was a retrospective cross-sectional study. The study reviewed electronic medical records (EMRs) of 99 eyes of 99 South Indian patients who underwent en bloc excision and biopsy for tumors in the corneal and conjunctival epithelium with suspicion of OSSN over 1 year from January 2019 to December 2019. Postoperatively, patients were treated with three cycles of topical 0.04% mitomycin C eye drops. Sixty-three had requisite EMR data with a follow-up period of 1 year.

Results: Patients had equal gender distribution with an age range of 28-83 years. The most common clinical variant was leukoplakic lesion, and the area of the lesion was the only predicting factor for SqCC and CIN.

Conclusion: Bigger (T2) lesions should be strongly suspected for OSSN and promptly excised. Histopathologic analysis should be performed, and post-op topical mitomycin C or interferon alpha 2b is administered to avoid recurrence. In this study, by correlating the area of the lesion, we introduce a new variable that may aid in clinical prognostication alongside the AJCC classification.