Assessment of conjunctival flora in eyes with lacrimal passage obstruction before and after successful dacryoendoscopic recanalisation.

Abstract

To investigate conjunctival bacterial flora in eyes with lacrimal passage obstruction before and after dacryoendoscopic recanalisation with lacrimal tube intubation. One-hundred fifty eyes with lacrimal passage obstruction that were successfully treated by dacryoendoscopic recanalisation were enrolled. Conjunctival sampling was done for each eye before and 4 months after surgery. The lower fornix was rubbed by a sterile cotton swab, and the collected samples were cultured with several agar plates. Colonies were differentiated and enumerated by standard bacteriological laboratory techniques. Positive bacterial growth was detected in 42.0% of all the samples before surgery, and the positivity rate significantly decreased to 26.0% after surgery (p=0.0051). The number of strains detected also decreased from 20 before surgery to 9 after surgery, especially pathogenic microorganisms decreased. In addition, drug-resistant bacteria such as penicillin-resistant <i>Streptococcus pneumoniae</i> and methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> were detected in nine eyes before surgery but were detected only in one eye after surgery. Coagulase-negative <i>Staphylococci</i> and <i>Corynebacterium</i> spp., which are common in normal conjunctival flora, accounted for 46.5% of all the isolates before surgery and 80.9% after surgery, showing a significant increase in the rate after surgery (p<0.0001). This study showed that physiological recanalisation of lacrimal passage after dacryoendoscopic surgery significantly decreased the culture positivity rate of conjunctival sac and the number of microorganism strains detected. It also decreased the number of potentially pathogenic and drug-resistant bacteria and increased the percentages of indigenous bacteria, causing the normalisation of conjunctival flora.