An audit of 3-snip procedures performed at the Aga khan university hospital, Karachi, Pakistan

Rashid Baig, Aga Khan University
Benish Aslam, Aga Khan University
Khabir Ahmad, Agha Khan University

Abstract

Objective: To assess the functional outcome of three-snip punctoplasty procedure for punctal stenosis at a tertiary care hospital.
Methods: The retrospective study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, and comprised medical records of all patients aged >18 years who underwent three-snip punctoplasty between January 2013 and December 2017. Data was retrieved on age, gender, diagnosis, signs and symptoms, laterality, date of procedure, resolution of symptoms post procedure, date of last eye followup, symptoms at last follow-up, functional outcome (epiphora at 1 month). SPSS 20 was used for data analysis.
Results: Of the 30 patients, 22(73.3%) were females. Overall mean age at the time of punctoplasty was 57.5±15.57 years. Of all the cases, 17(56.7%) had undergone bilateral puntoplasty. At one month, 20(66.7%) patients were completely symptom-free. Females had better results than males but the difference was not significant (p=0.078).
Conclusion: Three-snip punctoplasty was found to be a minimally invasive procedure with good functional outcome that was comparable to other procedures.