Rotation mattress suture: a powerful adjunct for ectropion correction

We describe an effective adjunctive suture technique for severe forms of both tarsal and marginal ectropion in a case series of 28 patients undergoing the rotation mattress suture technique for ectropion repair. Forty eyelids, followed for 1 to 5 years (average, 2.5 years), underwent tarsal or marginal ectropion repair, using the rotation mattress suture technique. Transient notching was noted in 31 eyelids (78%) but persisted in only 1 case (3%). Twenty-five eyelids (63%) had 0.5 to 1.0 mm of eyelid retraction. There were only 2 cases (5%) of recurrent ectropion. We found that excluding transient changes and predictable, mild lower eyelid retraction, the rotation mattress suture provides a powerful adjunctive reparative option for difficult cases of ectropion with low complication and failure rates.