Abstract Listings 2024

Purpose

In Romania, oculoplastic surgery is a subspecialization at the beginning of development and the training possibilities of young doctors are limited, especially because legislation does not allow training on cadavers. The purpose of this study is to implement new training methods as realistic as possible for oculoplastic surgical techniques.

Methods

In order to initiate ophthalmologists in training for oculoplastic surgery, we propose 2 animal models. Thus, sheep and cattle heads were tested to learn basic surgical techniques such as suturing an eyelid wound with involvement of the eyelid free margin, ectropion, entropion, eyelid ptosis surgery by levator aponevrosis advancement and frontal suspension, reconstruction of the lower eyelid using the tenzel flap, upper eyelid blepharoplasty and direct eyebrow ptosis surgery. In this regard, we organized two pilot workshops for the first time in Romania, the first with 16 and the second with 22 participants, ophthalmologists or plastic surgeons. The practical workshops took place in a room specially set up for simulation in surgery, with ophthalmological instruments and magnifiers with 3.5 x magnification. The participants filled in at the beginning and at the end of the workshop questionnaires regarding the safety they have in performing these surgical techniques and the preference for a certain animal model.

Results

According to the answers of the participating doctors, from an anatomical point of view, the lower eyelid of sheep faithfully simulates the size and anatomical structures of the human lower eyelid, and the upper eyelid of cattle is a good model due to the anatomical similarities for the upper eyelid and eyebrow, despite the larger dimensions. Each trainee had the opportunity to work individually and in a team on an animal orbit, and at the end the degree of satisfaction was very good, with each trainee reporting an increase in confidence to perform the surgical techniques practiced by more than 40% compared to the beginning of the course. More than 95% state that the animal models were very useful for their subsequent clinical practice and that they would recommend such training to other fellow ophthalmologists.

Conclusion

Training in animal models is accessible, reproducible and allows an effective initiation for the first steps in oculoplastic surgery.

Additional Authors

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