Surgical Repair of Leaking Filtering Blebs Using Two Different Techniques

Purpose: to report the outcomes of two different surgical techniques for the repair of late onset bleb leakage following trabeculectomy. methods: this retrospective study includes 21 eyes of 20 patients with prior trabeculectomy and late-onset bleb leaks; 14 eyes underwent excision of the filtering bleb together with conjunctival advancement while in the other 7 eyes the bleb was retained but de-epithelialized before conjunctival advancement. success was defined as resolution of leakage with no need for additional glaucoma surgery together with intraocular pressure (iop) of 5-21 mmhg. complete and qualified success was considered when the above mentioned was achieved without or with glaucoma medications, respectively. results: mean duration of follow-up was 20.3±14.4 months. no significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of complete, qualified and overall success rates (p>0.05), however more antiglaucoma medications were necessary in the bleb excision group (p=0.02). conclusions: both surgical techniques of bleb repair were comparably effective, however the bleb de-epithelialization technique was associated with less need for glaucoma medications after the procedure.