Rajak 2011b.

Methods	Study Design: parallel group randomised trial of absorbable versus silk sutures for major trichiasis. Eyes: only one eye per participant was included in the analysis. In bilateral cases, one eye was randomly assigned to be the 'study eye', although both eyes were treated, if indicated.
Participants	Country: Ethiopia Setting: health centres Number of participants: 1300 Lost to follow up: 82 Male: 285, Female: 1015
Interventions	(1) Posterior lamellar tarsal rotation with absorbable sutures (2) Posterior lamellar tarsal rotation with silk sutures
Outcomes	Primary Outcome: proportion of those individuals seen at the 12‐month follow‐up who were found to have either (1) recurrent trichiasis, defined as one or more lashes touching the eye or clinical evidence of epilation; or (2) a history of repeat TT surgery during the first year. Secondary Outcomes: corneal opacity change, visual acuity by LogMAR E‐chart, entropion, conjunctival inflammation and symptoms by questionnaire. Follow up at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months.
Notes	Funder: Band Aid Foundation and The Wellcome Trust. Johnson & Johnson donated all sutures.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Quote "Participants were randomly allocated to the silk or polyglactin‐910 suture arms using a 1:1 allocation ratio for each surgeon, using a computer‐generated randomisation sequence with random block sizes. Randomisation was stratified by surgeon because of possible inter‐surgeon variability."
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Quote "The random allocation sequences for each surgeon were concealed in sequentially numbered, sealed, opaque envelopes, which were placed in separate containers for each surgeon; a person independent of all other aspects of the trial prepared these envelopes."
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Quote "Participants and surgeons were aware of the suture allocation." Other personnel involved in the study were masked to the allocation.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Quote "The two individuals who were responsible for all the clinical observations in this trial were masked to the allocation."
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	95.1% follow‐up at 12 months.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Study protocol published online.