Objectives: To compare the effectiveness of electrocoagulation and conventional medical drops for treatment of conjunctivochalasis using anterior segment-optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT).
Materials and methods: Forty eyes of 20 patients with bilateral conjunctivochalasis were included in this prospective study. Twenty eyes of 10 patients were assigned to Group 1 and underwent electrocoagulation. The other 20 eyes of 10 patients were assigned to Group 2 and received conventional medical treatment consisting of non-steroidal antiinflammatory drop (topical 0.5% ketorolac tromethamine) 4 times a day and artificial tears (0.15% sodium hyaluronate) 6 times a day for 4 weeks. Before and 4 weeks after treatment, all patients were evaluated by slit-lamp biomicroscopy, tear film break-up time (TBUT) test, and ocular surface disease index (OSDI) questionnaire. Tear meniscus height (TMH), tear meniscus area (TMA), and conjunctivochalasis area (CCA) were measured with AS-OCT.
Results: In Group 1, posttreatment values of TMH, TMA, and TBUT were significantly higher (p<0.001, p=0.006, and p<0.001, respectively), while CCA and OSDI scores were significantly lower than pretreatment values (p<0.001 for both values). In Group 2, only OSDI decreased significantly between pretreatment and posttreatment values (p<0.001). The other parameters did not change significantly after treatment (p>0.05 for all values).
Conclusion: Electrocoagulation is an effective modality for treatment of conjunctivochalasis.
Keywords: Conjunctiva; electrocoagulation; optical coherence tomography.