Title: Managing corneal disease: focus on suppurative keratitis.
Abstract: Infections of the cornea can lead to corneal opacity and blindness if not identified quickly and managed appropriately. The terms infective keratitis, suppurative keratitis, and microbial keratitis are all used to describe suppurative infections of the cornea. These are characterised by the presence of white or yellowish infiltrates in the corneal stroma, with or without an overlaying corneal epithelial defect, and associated with signs of inflammation (Figure (Figure11).
Figure 1. A severe bacterial ulcer caused by Pseudomonas sp. The gram negative (−ve) bacillus can cause complete destruction of the cornea within a few days. This cornea is at risk of perforation.
Figure 2. A bacterial ulcer. The eye is very red and inflamed. Note the ring infiltrate in the cornea and a large hypopyon in the anterior chamber.
The common symptomatic complaints of patients with suppurative keratitis are as follows (all with varying degrees of severity):
redness of the eye
circum-corneal congestion (typically)
pain
blurring of vision
photophobia
watering of the eye.
The aim of this article is to review both bacterial and fungal keratitis, with an emphasis on identification and management at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Guidelines for referral will be suggested.
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['pubmed']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 2
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