Case Series of Patients With Hereditary Benign Intraepithelial Dyskeratosis

The purpose of this retrospective case series was to compare the outcomes of different treatment options for patients diagnosed with hereditary benign intraepithelial dyskeratosis (HBID).

The study is designed as a single-institution retrospective chart review of patients who were clinically diagnosed with HBID during their care at the Duke Eye Center. Patient demographics were obtained, and disease course after different therapies was analyzed.

Seventeen patients were diagnosed with HBID. 52.9% (9/17) of patients identified with HBID reported Native American ancestry. Medical therapy alone failed to reduce the size or number of corneal lesions in any patient identified in this study. Ten of the 17 patients required surgical intervention. Two eyes received corneal biopsies, 3 eyes received a full conjunctival lesion excision with amniotic membrane grafting, 12 eyes received superficial keratectomy with amniotic membrane grafting, and 1 eye received keratoprosthesis. Lesion recurrence was seen in 9 of the 10 patients treated with surgical excision with an average time to recurrence of 1.5 and 2 months for conjunctival excisions and superficial keratectomy, respectively, when excluding patients who missed scheduled postoperative follow-up appointments.

Hereditary benign intraepithelial dyskeratosis is a rare and poorly understood disorder that predominantly affects people with Native American ancestry. Medical therapy only provides symptomatic relief, and patients who receive surgical excision almost always develop recurrence. As a result, we recommend future investigations focus on identifying the optimal surgical technique and timing to limit the morbidity of HBID and improve outcomes.