Frontalis Suspension in Muscular Dystrophy: 16-years Follow-up

Abstract

Summary. Acquired eyelid ptosis in adults, with complete loss of levator palpebrae superiosis function, can be a challenging problem to diagnose and treat. A 48-year-old woman with chronic bilateral severe blepharoptosis of 10 years duration is presented, whose neurological investigations excluded myasthenia gravis. The patient was preliminarily diagnosed with chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia. The levator excursion was negligible, and a frontalis suspension procedure was considered using a conventional autogenous fascia lata graft. An optimal outcome was achieved with over 16-years follow-up. Although the patient was healthy otherwise upon first presentation, 10 years later, she developed other neurologic manifestations, including dysphagia and oral dryness. The fact that blepharoptosis did not recur over the years in this case differentiates an oculo-pharyngeal type of muscular dystrophy in this patient from other types and from the more frequent condition of chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia.