Infection after blepharoplasty with and without carbon dioxide laser resurfacing

Purpose: To determine the rate of infection in patients who underwent blepharoplasty with and without carbon dioxide laser resurfacing. Design: A retrospective, nonrandomized, consecutive case series. Participants: Eighteen hundred sixty-one patients who underwent upper or lower blepharoplasty, with or without carbon dioxide laser resurfacing. Methods: Charts of patients who underwent blepharoplasty, with or without laser resurfacing, were analyzed for the presence of postoperative infection, method of treatment, and possible sequelae. Main Outcome Measures: The rate of infection (%) was determined for each group of patients. Results: Infection occurred in 0.2% of patients who underwent blepharoplasty without laser resurfacing and 0.4% of patients who had adjunctive laser resurfacing. No permanent functional or cosmetic sequelae resulted from the episodes of infection. Conclusions: Infection after blepharoplasty without laser resurfacing is uncommon, indicating that topical antibiotic ointment prophylaxis is a sufficient postoperative regimen. The use of adjunctive laser resurfacing may increase the infection rate slightly.