Severe Eyelid Skin Injury after a Long Surgery: The Impact of Adhesive Materials

A 75 year old patient who had a long lasting cardiac bypass surgery was consulted to the department of ophthalmology from the intensive care unit with abrasions and hemorrhage on the both eyelids. The adhesive tape used for occluding the eye was consisted of acrylate adhesive with a soft (nonwoven) cloth backing material. The findings were found to be consistent with the medical adhesive related skin injury (MARSI). Although MARSI is observed very frequently and its mild clinical findings can make it an underestimated clinical condition, it might very rarely cause serious skin related problems as in our case. To prevent encountering serious skin injuries after general anesthesia, it might be better to prefer silicone material rather than acrylate adhesive material for the occlusion of eyes. In conclusion, here we report severe MARSI case after general anesthesia to emphasize the broad spectrum of this condition.