Gore-Tex- as an adjuvant to Tenon's patch graft for large perforated corneal ulcers during Covid times

Abstract

Purpose: Covid-19 has profoundly affected the day-to-day lives of individual citizens. It has strained all aspects of health care including eye banking and corneal transplantation. Although elective procedures like optical Keratoplasty can be postponed, management of perforating ulcers needs tectonic Keratoplasty to avoid permanent ocular morbidities. It has become inevitable for corneal surgeons to innovate newer methods of treatment for such corneal diseases. The large corneal perforations if left untreated may lead to permanent visual loss. An alternative method of managing a large peripheral corneal perforation of size 5 × 5.5 mm was done using Tenons patch graft with Gore-tex in a 50-year-old female patient, during the lockdown. Observations: Tenons graft with Gore-tex, effectively sealed the large corneal perforation in our case without iris incarceration, favourable for future visual rehabilitation. Conclusions and Importance: Tenons and Gore-tex are readily available. It is not necessary to rely on the donor corneas or the distributing eye banks during this pandemic situation. In the future, this procedure can reduce the burden of the pre-existing increase in the gap between the need and supply of donor corneas in developing countries.

Keywords

• Gore-tex
• Large perforated corneal ulcers
• Tenons patch graft
• Covid-19
• PTFE