A Rare Complication of External Dacryocystorhinostomy: Transient Orbicularis Muscle Weakness

Address for Correspondence/Yazisma Adresi: Ibrahim Bulent Buttanri MD, Haydarpasa Numune Education and Research Hospital, Eye Clinic, Istanbul, Turkey Phone: +90 216 688 55 14 E-mail: bulent_but@yahoo.com Received/Gelis Tarihi: 07.08.2013 Accepted/Kabul Tarihi: 22.01.2014 In this study, we present 4 patients with transient orbicularis oculi muscle weakness following external dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR). Preoperative and postoperative records of 4 patients who presented with either a delay in blinking or lagophthalmos on the first postoperative day were evaluated. None of the patients had a history of facial palsy or any symptom of lagophthalmos. All 4 patients had undergone external DCR without silicone intubation under general anesthesia. Three of the patients had a delay in blinking, while one patient developed a 4-mm lagophthalmos postoperatively. A mild punctate keratopathy was observed in one patient. The condition resolved in all patients after an average of 8 weeks. (Turk J Ophthalmol 2014; 44: 413-5)