Glaucoma filtering bleb dysesthesia

Abstract

Objectives: Dysesthesia is a sensation that people typically describe as painful, itchy, burning or restrictive and to determine the prevalence and risk factors for dysesthesia caused by glaucoma filtering blebs. Materials and Methods: A prospective and cross-sectional observational study of consecutive patients having unilateral glaucoma filtering blebs resulting from trabeculectomy was conducted. A self-reported questionnaire was administered to these patients inquiring about the frequency and severity of the following symptoms: ocular pain, burning, foreign body sensation and watering. The following variables were also recorded from the case records: age, gender, diagnosis, date of glaucoma surgery and antifibrotic agent if used. The intraocular pressure and bleb characteristics in form of location, height, width, thickness, percentage coverage by the eyelid, presence of epithelial defects, or dellen were noted. Dysesthesia scores between the affected eye and control eye were compared using the unpaired student t-test. Risk factors for dysesthesia were identified using analysis of variance or Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: A total of 104 patients were enrolled in the study. The mean dysesthesia score (±standard deviation, SD, range) in the affected eye was 5.42 (±3.62, 0–12) and in the unaffected eye was 1.35 (±2.90, 0–8, P = 0.0001). Factors that predisposed to dysesthesia included older age (71.15%), superior location of bleb (84.61%) and cystic and overhanging bleb. Conclusion: Eyes with filtering blebs experience more dysesthesia than eyes without filtering blebs. Older age and a superior bleb location are more commonly associated with bleb dysesthesia.