Welcome, please sign in
Follow DJO on Facebook Follow DJO on Twitter
Grand Rounds
  Most Recent Cases
  Dates of Case
  Type of Case
  Submit a Grand Round.
  Register with DJO to receive personalized updates.

If you're already a
member, please sign in.
A 49-year-old man with unilateral, nontender left eyelid swelling
Digital Journal of Ophthalmology 2014
Volume 20, Number 1
January 17, 2014
DOI: 10.5693/djo.03.2013.09.007
Printer Friendly

Download PDF



Brandon J. Wong, BA | Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Bryan K. Hong, MD | Doheny Eye Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Daman Samrao, MD | Department of Dermatology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Gene H. Kim, MD | Department of Dermatology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Narsing A. Rao, MD | Doheny Eye Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
History
A 49-year-old Hispanic man presented to the Los Angeles County Hospital Ophthalmology clinic with a nontender, left upper eyelid swelling of 14 months’ duration (Figure 1). On two occasions, his eyelid had been lanced at an outside ophthalmology clinic and yielded a “dark, reddish-brown liquid,” which did not grow any organisms on bacterial culture. According to the patient, the edema improved for 3 days after lancing and then recurred. A 3-week course of oral phenylephrine hydrochloride 20 mg/chlorpheniramine maleate 4 mg and a 4-week trial of sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim double strength 500 mg twice daily prescribed by the patient’s referring doctor had no effect. The apparent cellulitis, which had slowly worsened over a month then stabilized in character for more than a year, led to the patient’s loss of employment and further rendered him unable to obtain work in the food industry due to concerns over his appearance. The patient denied any eye pain or changes in his vision, including loss of vision or diplopia. He had no other systemic symptoms and denied any facial muscle weakness.

Past medical and surgical history were unremarkable. Other than the 2 previous eyelid lancings, the patient denied any other eyelid surgery, injectables, or ocular history. The patient was not on any medications. Family and social history were noncontributory.
top
Figure 1
A 49-year-old man with left upper eyelid swelling of 14 months’ duration at presentation.