Indirect Corneal Neurotization: Long-Term Outcomes Using a Sural Nerve Graft in Patients With Facial Palsy…

StudyCornea· Aug 2026

Indirect Corneal Neurotization: Long-Term Outcomes Using a Sural Nerve Graft in Patients With Facial Palsy and Neurotrophic Keratopathy.

Tania Albavera-Giles, Guillermo Raul Vera-Duarte, Gustavo Ortiz-Morales … Arturo Ramirez-Miranda

Peripheral NerveStudyTreatmentQ1IF 2.3

Sural nerve graft neurotization markedly improved corneal sensation in neurotrophic keratopathy patients.

Indirect Corneal Neurotization: Long-Term Outcomes Using a Sural Nerve Graft in Patients With Facial Palsy and Neurotrophic Keratopathy.

Tania Albavera-Giles … Arturo Ramirez-Miranda

Cornea · Aug 2026

Purpose

To report long-term clinical outcomes of patients with neurotrophic keratopathy and facial palsy secondary to neurosurgery treated with an indirect technique of corneal neurotization (corneal neurotization) using a sural nerve graft.

Methods

A multicenter, prospective, interventional, noncontrolled study.

n = 14 eyes

Results

Corneal sensitivity increased from 0.2 cm to 2.83 cm after nerve graft surgery.

0.2cm

Baseline

2.83cm

Last follow-up

More results

The time to mean improvement was 6 months.

Overall, we observed improvement of the ocular surface health with better tear break-up time, resolution of epithelial defects, a decrease of corneal leukoma and corneal vascularization, and the subjective perception of greater ocular sensitivity in all patients from 3 to 6 months after surgery.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

Corneal neurotization is a novel procedure that provides a new source of nerve innervation, enhances corneal sensation, and delivers local trophic factors, potentially improving ocular surface health in patients with neurotrophic keratopathy.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

We successfully implemented this technique in patients with facial paralysis and in those with corneal anesthesia after posterior cranial fossa surgery.

Indirect Corneal Neurotization: Long-Term Outcomes Using a Sural Nerve Graft in Patients With Facial Palsy and Neurotrophic Keratopathy.

Indirect Corneal Neurotization: Long-Term Outcomes Using a Sural Nerve Graft in Patients With Facial Palsy and Neurotrophic Keratopathy.

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