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Oculoplastic and reconstructive surgery

Research group

Active research

Project owner

Institute of Neuroscience an Physiology

Area

Health and medicine

Topic

Ophthalmology

Short description

Our research is centered around clinical problems in oculoplastic surgery. Presently we have projects investigating treatment of periocular basal cell carcinoma, premalignant afflictions of the conjunctiva, surgery of tear duct obstructions, surgical technique used for eye amputating surgery, and patient utility of surgery of dermatochalasis.

We are doing research in our clinical field oculoplastic and reconstructive surgery. This subspeciality deals with congenital malformations and acquired diseases around the eye, eyelids, orbit, tear drainage system and, in our group, conjunctival malignancies. We also treat patients with thyroid associated ophthalmic disease. The aim of our research is to improve the caretaking of our patients. Currently we have ongoing och recently finished projects in the areas mentioned below.

Basal cell carcinoma

Basal cell carcinoma is by far the most common malignant tumour in the eyelids. Incidence is increasing. We have a long tradition of treating certain subgroups with cryosurgery. We probably have the largest material from this in the world and several publications have emanated from our group over the years. In 2020 we published the results from cryosurgery of medium aggressive basal cell carcinoma in the eyelids. Until recently we were the only eye clinic in the Nordic countries to operate on periocular basal cell carcinoma with the surgical technique described by Mohs. Our results have been published 1999 but we are now working on a new publication with interesting findings. Another ongoing project is description of the spontaneous evolution of basal cell carcinoma after biopsy.

Premalignant conjunctival disorders

Malignancies from the conjunctiva are rare afflictions. They emanate from squamous cells in the mucous membrane or from melanocytes. More common are premalignant disorders like conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia and primary acquired melanosis. These can develop into malignancies and are hence treated and followed. Very few publications in the area give guidelines on reasonable follow-up of this group. We are currently working on a paper to present our results to contribute in the field.

Eye amputations

We have recently published 19 years of experience of eye amputating surgeries and presented great improvement in results from changes in surgical technique and material.

Tear duct obstructions

Our results of surgery of tear duct obstructions have been investigated and led to several improvements. We are currently investigating a group of patients in order to see if our changes have led to the expected outcome.

Dermatochalasis

In public care in Sweden dermatochalasis is being operated if it interferes with vision. Other associated symptoms are headache, eczema of the eyelid skin and dry eyes. A current project is to investigate the results from surgery on all of these symptoms and the combination of them.