Reconstruction of seventeen full-thickness defects of the eyelids with twenty-two Hübner tarsomarginal grafts

In 1976, Hübner described a new technique to repair full-thickness defects of the eyelids. In 1993, we decided to adopt this simple and easily reproducible technique that guarantees restoration of the normal aspect of the margin. Subsequently, 17 eyelid reconstructions were performed on 13 patients, requiring the harvesting of 22 tarsomarginal grafts. No cosmetic or functional sequelae in the donor eyelids were observed. One or several functional complications were present in seven out of 17 reconstructed eyelids, including two cases of epiphora, one case of lagophtalmos and two cases of lid notch. Loss of the eyelids was observed in three cases out of six upper eyelid reconstructions and in nine cases out of 11 lower eyelid reconstructions. In all cases, the margin integrity was otherwise preserved. Very few simple techniques achieve that level of quality in the eyelid reconstruction process.