Assessment of blepharospasm surgery using an improved disability scale: study of 138 patients.

PURPOSE: To assess a new scale for grading functional disability in a series of patients operated on for blepharospasm resistant to treatment by botulinum toxin (BT) injections.

METHODS: The bicentric study included 138 patients: 80 (58%) with essential blepharospasm; 46 (33%) with apraxia of eyelid opening; and 12 (9%) with intermediate forms. They had undergone orbicularis myectomy (92 cases, 67%), frontalis suspension (31 cases, 22%), or both (15 cases, 11%). Functional disability was assessed by using an original scale covering 6 daily life activities, each graded using 5 levels from 0 (no disability) to 4 (activity impossible). The score obtained was related to the total of activities actually performed to produce a functional disability score (FDS) from 0 to 100. Each patient's FDS was prospectively determined, before surgery and 3 months after surgery (M3). In patients who, after surgery, required a further course of BT injections, the FDS was assessed immediately before the third injection.

RESULTS: The mean FDS fell significantly, from 78 +/- 15 (standard deviation) before surgery to 45 +/- 21 at M3 (p < 0.01%), whatever the clinical form of essential blepharospasm or surgical procedure. The mean postoperative FDS was significantly lower in the 62 patients (45%) weaned off BT than in the unweaned group, respectively (31 +/- 17 versus 56 +/- 18; p < 0.01). In the latter group, the mean FDS after BT reinjection (34 +/- 19) fell to a level comparable with that of the weaned patients.

CONCLUSIONS: This accurate, easy-to-use scale makes it possible to quantify in patients with blepharospasm functional improvement as the result of surgery and, where applicable, of BT reinjection.