Outcomes of 4-snip punctoplasty for severe punctal stenosis: measurement of tear meniscus height by optical coherence tomography.

Purpose: To investigate the surgical outcome of rectangular 4-snip punctoplasty, a modification of rectangular 3-snip procedures, using objective measurements.

Design: Noncomparative case series.

Methods: The medical charts of patients who underwent rectangular 4-snip punctoplasty for severe punctal stenosis with at least 6 months follow-up were reviewed. Before surgery and at 1 and 6 months after surgery, subjective evaluation of tearing was assessed using Munk scores. The size of the punctum was graded based on slit-lamp examination, and measurement of tear meniscus height was done using Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography.

Results: A total of 45 eyes (26 patients) were studied. The subjective epiphora score was significantly reduced after surgery and maintained until 6 months after the surgery (χ2 for trend test, P<.001). The grade of the punctum size was also significantly enlarged after surgery and the enlarged punctum was maintained until 6 months after the surgery (χ2 for trend test, P<.001). The mean preoperative tear height (452.4±249.3 μm) was significantly reduced both at 1 month after surgery (341.6±207.9 μm; P=.003, paired t test) and at 6 months after surgery (362.1±212.6 μm; P=.004, paired t test). The functional success rate was 93.3% and anatomic success rate was 88.9% at 6 months after surgery.

Conclusions: Rectangular 4-snip punctoplasty was an anatomically and functionally effective procedure for severe punctal stenosis patients, maintaining large puncta for fairly long periods.