Non Infectious Descemetocele Treated with a Surgical Drape Patch: A Case Report

Abstract

A corneal descemetocele is the anterior herniation of an intact Descemet membrane through an overlying stromal defect. Though a rare complication, it is a serious one that needs to be treated at the earliest. If not treated promptly, it may result in a full-thickness corneal perforation which will hinder the ocular integrity and may end up with vision-threatening complications. Here, the authors report a case of a 58-year-old female patient who came to the Outpatient Department with complaints of redness and pain in the Right Eye (RE). The patient on examination had a descemetocele impending perforation of the right eye. On the initial visit, a bandage contact lens (BCL) was placed. On follow-up, after one week, the BCL was displaced due to undue rubbing of the eye by the patient, and on readjustment, it ended up with corneal perforation. As an emergency, treatment was required and due to a shortage of donor corneal tissue in the ongoing pandemic, a tectonic patch was made by trephining non-sticky part of sterile plastic drape which was available on-site and a double drape patch technique was performed. Both the patches were then placed over the perforation, which sealed the perforation completely. On a consecutive follow-up of one week and one month, the authors found the patch to be intact and maintaining ocular integrity. A tectonic drape patch technique is a viable and easy method of closing an open wound with nontraumatic corneal perforations when other methods to immediately seal the wound are not available.