This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • External Eye Disease  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 120 words of the full text and any section headings.

I read with interest the case report by McCulley et al¹ in the November 2002 issue of the ARCHIVES. The authors state, "To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of abnormal tear drainage due to lacrimal gland secretion through a lacrimal ductule misdirected to the external eyelid." The condition has already been thoroughly described, including the embryologic origin of the anomaly. We reported a case in the Journal of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus² in 1994 and specifically referenced Blanksma and van de Pol's³ description of the tarsal group, which has the orifice near the superior edge of the tarsal plate of the upper eyelid and is always associated with a tuft of lashlike hairs exiting from the orifice.

Martin S. Cogen, MD
Birmingham, Ala

1. McCulley TJ, Yip CC, Kersten RC, Kulwin DR. An ectopic site of lacrimal gland secretion mimicking epiphora. Arch Ophthalmol. 2002;120:1586-1587. FREE FULL TEXT 2. Cogen MS, Lewis AR, Kelly AG. Anomalous lacrimal ductule: case report and review. J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 1994;31:327-329. PUBMED 3. Blanksma LJ, van de Pol BA. Congenital fistulae of the lacrimaal gland. Br J Ophthalmol. 1980;64:515-517. FREE FULL TEXT

Arch Ophthalmol. 2004;122:791.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?