Spontaneous wound dehiscence after penetrating keratoplasty

• Main Authors: Alireza Foroutan, Seyed Ali Tabatabaei, Mahmoud Jabbarvand Behrouz, Reza Zarei, Mohammad Soleimani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Press of International Journal of Ophthalmology (IJO PRESS) 2014-10-01
• Series: International Journal of Ophthalmology
• Subjects: wound dehiscence; penetrating keratoplasty; review; spontaneous
• Online Access: http://www.ijo.cn/en_publish/2014/5/20140529.pdf

Spontaneous wound separation may be developed even months after suture removal especially in the context of long-term corticosteroid therapy. A 68-year-old Caucasian woman presented to our cornea clinic with spontaneous wound dehiscence after her third penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) which was performed three years ago. An Ahmed glaucoma valve (New World Medical, Ranchos Cucamonga, CA) was inserted ten months after the third PKP, which successfully controlled intraocular pressure (IOP). At the examination, the last sutures were removed eight months ago and she was using flourometholone 0.1 % (Sina Darou, Tehran, Iran) with a dose of once a day. There was one quadrant of wound dehiscence from 8 to 11 o`clock associated with anterior wound gape and severe corneal edema. Resuturing was performed for the patient. At the one month examination, the corneal edema was resolved and best corrected visual acuity was 20/200 mainly due to previous glaucomatous optic neuropathy. Caution about the prolonged use of corticosteroids is necessary. Topical immunosuppressives could be a promising choice in this field.