Surgical management and outcome of lower eyelid entropion in 124 cats

To evaluate the success rate of various surgical techniques for the management of lower eyelid entropion in cats.

Retrospective study. Animals studied  One hundred and twenty-four cats with surgical correction of lower eyelid entropion of 200 eyes over a 13 year period.

Records of 124 cats were reviewed for signalment, type of entropion, surgical procedure performed and post-operative result.

Combinations of the Hotz-Celsus (HC), lateral canthal closure and full thickness wedge resection techniques were used to treat 64 bilateral and 60 unilateral cases of lower lid entropion. Twenty-three cats were under a year of age, 52 cats were aged between 2 and 8 years and 49 were over 8 years old. The overall success rate for a single surgical procedure (which may consist of multiple techniques) to correct lower eyelid entropion was 96.0% per eye. The remaining 4.0% had the entropion resolved with a second surgery. A combined HC and lateral canthal closure had a 99.21% success rate of resolving lower lid entropion. Geriatric cats were the most likely age group to develop corneal sequestra; 37% of cats in this group presented with entropion and corneal sequestra concurrently. Seventeen percent of cats that presented with unilateral entropion and did not have prophylactic surgery on the fellow eye went on to develop entropion in the fellow eye.

A combined HC and lateral canthal closure was the most effective surgical technique in managing lower eyelid entropion of cats in our study. Prophylactic lateral canthal closure in the unaffected eye is recommended.