Treatment of Eyelid Entropion: A Historical Review

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to review the long history of entropion, with emphasis on its significance to the specialty of ophthalmology, and the numerous methods developed to treat cicatricial and involutional forms of the condition. Methods: An extensive medical literature review was performed, identifying publications containing information on entropion and associated conditions. Foreign language manuscripts were translated using online resources. Results: A total of 920 manuscripts published between 1505 and 2023 were reviewed. While the majority were written in English, 38.5% were foreign language works. For much of history, both cicatricial and involutional entropion were managed by shortening the anterior lamella. Horizontal eyelid margin or posterior tarsal incisions were often added for cicatricial disease. Later, different tissues were grafted into the defects created by these incisions. A variety of measures were used to temporize in patients with involutional entropion. Surgical treatment of this condition evolved to include methods of suture rotation, orbicularis weakening or redirection, tarsal stabilization, lid margin shortening, and eyelid retractor repair. Conclusions: Entropion and its management are described throughout recorded history. For much of this time, cicatricial entropion was the most common form of the disease, in great part secondary to the prevalence of trachoma. The social impact of these conditions was a primary factor in the establishment of ophthalmology as a medical specialty and the creation of dedicated eye hospitals. Publications describing the treatment of involutional entropion appear with increasing frequency after the mid-19th century. Arguably, more procedures have been described for entropion than for any other ophthalmic condition.