Papers of the Week

To compare the efficacy of topical chloramphenicol 0.5%-betamethasone 0.2% (CB) and CB associated with sodium hyaluronate/trehalose/carbomer (HTC-gel) gel following strabismus surgery. Longitudinal, single-arm, study case series analysis involved patients undergoing bilateral symmetrical horizontal strabismus surgery. One eye received CB alone and the contralateral eye CB and HTC-gel. Both treatments were instilled 3 times a day for 4 weeks postoperatively. Ocular inflammation was assessed objectively at 1 and 4 weeks by Efron scale for conjunctival redness. Foreign body sensation, burning/stinging, itching, pain, stick feeling, and blurred vision were evaluated by the numerical rating scale. There were 31 patients included in the study. The mean age at presentation was 51 years (standard deviation 24, range 19-85). Conjunctival inflammatory at 1 and 4 weeks showed no statistically significant difference between the 2 treatments ( = 0.75 and  = 0.33, respectively). At 1 week postsurgery, all the subjective parameters showed a significant difference ( < 0.0001) between the 2 groups of treatment to the exclusion of "itching" and "pain" ( = 0.18 and  = 0.67, respectively) with higher scores, to the exception of "blurred vision" in the CB treatment. At 4 weeks postoperatively, no statistically significant differences between the 2 groups ( > 0.16) of treatments were observed, with the exception of the symptom "blurred vision" (0.00 vs. 1.65, CB vs. CB and HTC-gel, respectively,  < 0.0001). CB associated with HTC-gel seems to be an effective treatment option following strabismus surgery.