Global, psychological, and visual quality of life after evisceration/enucleation surgery (QOLAE study): A descriptive case series.

Purpose: To describe the early health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients who have undergone an eye removal surgery.

Methods: A descriptive monocentric study was conducted. Patients with a surgical indication of eye amputation were enrolled. Three standardized surveys were given to each patient 1-3 months after the surgery. The following standardized questionnaires were used: National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire 25 (NEI VFQ-25) (range: 0-100), Short Form-36 (SF-36) (range: 0-100), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) (range: 0-40).

Results: Between January 2021 and January 2022, in the Ophthalmology Department of the University Hospital of Besançon (France), 20 patients who were going to undergo an eye removal surgery were included. The population comprised a majority of men (12 men vs. 8 women) with a mean age of 70 (±16.2) years. The underlying conditions leading to the eye amputation were varied: three infections (15%), three retinal detachments (15%), three chronic uveitis (15%), 11 traumas (55%), three tumors (15%), and five chronic high intraocular pressures (25%). The surgical procedure consisted of an evisceration in 15 cases (75%) or an enucleation in five cases (25%). On average, the composite NEI VFQ-25 scored 68.7 (±22.4). Regarding the SF-36 score, the physical composite score was 63.1 (±15.4), and the mental composite score was 64.7 (±14.4). The overall PSS-10 score was 12.3 (±8.7).

Conclusion: The patients who had undergone an eye amputation had an early reduction in their HRQoL in all its domains, especially in the vision, mental, and physical specific quality of life. These patients need personalized preparation before the surgery. These findings need to be assessed in the long term.