Abstract
Dacryocystorhinostomy is usually performed easily when it is the first surgery for the patient. Difficulty, however, is found if the patient has received a preceding operation for the lacrimal sac.
For a 23-year-old male, who had received an incomplete dacryocystectomy two years before the admission, dacryocystorhinostomy was successfully performed with transplantation of the oral mucosal flap. The lower half of the lacrimal sac had been removed by the previous operation, so it was impossible to anastomose the remaining mucosa of the lacrimal sac with the nasal mucosa. Two pieces of free oral mucosal flap were transplanted on the lower portion of the lacrimal fossa, i. e. between the remaining lacrimal sac and the nasal cavity, so as to make a drainage way of tears to the nasal cavity.
Twenty-two months after the operation no obstruction was found in the new lacrimal duct and the patient was free from epiphorhea.
