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Friday, April 6, 2012

CYSTS OF CONJUNCTIVA

The common cystic lesions of the conjunctiva are:
1. Congenital cystic lesions. These are of rare occurrence and include congenital corneoscleral cyst and cystic form of epibulbar dermoid.

2. Lymphatic cysts of conjunctiva. These are common and usually occur due to dilatation of lymph spaces in the bulbar conjunctiva. Lymphangiectasis is characterized by a row of small cysts. Rarely, lymphangioma may occur as
a single multilocular cyst.

3. Retention cysts. These occur occasionally due to

  blockage of ducts of accessory lacrimal glands of Krause in chronic inflammatory conditions, viz.,
trachoma and pemphigus. Retention cysts are more common in upper fornix.

4. Epithelial implantation cyst (traumatic cyst). It may develop following implantation of conjunctival epithelium in the deeper layers, due to surgical or non-surgical injuries of conjunctiva.

5. Epithelial cysts due to downgrowth of epithelium are rarely seen in chronic inflammatory or degenerative conditions, e.g. cystic change in pterygium.



6. Aqueous cyst. It may be due to healing by cystoid cicatrix formation, following surgical or nonsurgical perforating limbal wounds.

7. Pigmented epithelial cyst. It may be formed sometimes following prolonged topical use of cocaine or epinephrine.

8. Parasitic cysts such as subconjunctival cysticercus (Fig. 1), hydatid cyst and filarial cyst are not infrequent in developing countries.

Fig. 1. Cysticercosis of conjunctiva.
Treatment
Conjunctival cysts need a careful surgical excision. The excised cyst should always be subjected to histopathological examination.

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