Background: Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) can lead to ocular surface scarring associated with pain, dry eye symptoms, and decreased visual acuity that often are difficult to treat.
History and signs: A 34-year-old woman was referred to our department two-years after TEN induced by lamotrigin (lamictal(R)). She was complaining of severe visual acuity loss, pain, and dry eye symptoms. Visual acuity was reduced to light perception in the right eye (RE) and to 0.2 in left eye (LE). Basal Schirmer test was 2 mm in RE and 3 mm in LE. With or without therapeutic contact lenses, the patient was experiencing severe discomfort requiring tear supplementation up to 50 - 80 times/day in both eyes.
Therapy and outcome: A free autologous mucosal graft (3.5 x 2.0 cm) was transplanted from the lower lip into the upper RE fornix. Six months after surgery, with therapeutic contact lenses, the need for tear supplementation was markedly reduced to 3 - 4 times/day in RE while it remained unchanged in LE. In RE, slit-lamp examination revealed decreases in the corneal stromal edema and in the diameter of neo-vessels associated with an improvement of visual acuity (counting fingers at 30 cm). Basal Schirmer test values were unchanged. It has to be mentioned that the improvement observed after surgery was markedly dependent on wearing a therapeutic contact lens.
Conclusions: Free autologous buccal graft transplantation (with its presumably accessory salivary glands) in association with the use of a therapeutic contact lens can be an efficient approach to treat ocular complication following drug-induced TEN (Lyell's syndrome).