ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Minerva Oftalmologica 2008 September;50(3):75-8

Copyright © 2008 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Surgical treatment for chalazia. A retrospective study in Italy

Ricci B., Ricci V

Department of Ophthalmology Complesso Integrato Columbus Cattolica del Sacro Cuore University Rome, Italy

Aim. To investigate the number of all surgical treatments for chalazia performed in Italy during a seven-year period and to evaluate the age and gender of the patients.
Methods. The source of our data was the online database maintained by the Italian Ministry of Health. We recorded the number of public and private surgical procedures for chalazion from 1999 through 2005.
Results. During the study period, 34.260 surgical procedures for chalazion were performed. Most of the treatments was on patients 15-24, 25-44 and 45-64 years of age. There were not differences in relation to gender until the age of 4 years, while in 5-14 and 15-24 years old the treatments in males were much lower than in females. Total figures (1999-2005) in 5-14 year-old age group were 444 in males and 1421 in females, while in 15-24 olds they were 2084 in males and 5213 in females respectively. On the contrary, the figures for surgery in males were always higher than those in females in all the age groups of more than 45 years.
Conclusion. The main result that emerged from our study is the higher percentage of surgical treatments for chalazion in young females with respect to males of the same age. This disparity cannot be simply justified. Perhaps, hormonal disorders, long-lasting use of contact lens or makeup employ in females may represent predisposing factors for chalazia.