[Change of priorities when selecting the method of eye removal: enucleation versus evisceration]

The development and evolution of conservative and surgical methods of treating patients with various ocular pathologies influence the priorities when selecting the method of eye removal.

To perform comparative analysis of eye removal methods based on the results of own studies over a long period.

The study analyses eye removal surgeries performed in Helmholtz Moscow Research Institute of Eye Diseases over the period of 1991 to 2016 and investigates the reasons of selecting enucleation and evisceration methods.

Over the period of 1991 to 2001, there were 968 eye removal surgeries performed in the department of traumatology, with reasons listed as trauma aftermath - 884 (91.3%) cases, outcomes of various diseases - 85 (8.7%) cases. From 2002 to 2016, a total of 2529 eye removal surgeries have been performed due to non-oncological reasons, of which 1337 (52.9%) were enucleation surgeries and 1190 (47.1%) - evisceration surgeries. However, over the last 15 years, there has been a clear tendency for changing priorities when selecting the method of eye removal: from 2002 to 2016, the number of eviscerations has increased by 4.2 times (from 16 to 66.6%), while the percentage of enucleations has decreased from 84 to 33.4%. The rise in frequency of eviscerations was noted in post-traumatic pathologies, including post-traumatic uveitis and preatrophy, and buphthalmos.

Analysis of clinical and statistical data accumulated over more than 10 years showed positive dynamics in the decrease of eye removal cases and changes in priority when selecting the method towards evisceration, which causes fewer complications, has better functional and esthetic results - especially considering the ongoing development of new evisceration techniques.