Acute phase of epidemic keratoconjunctivitis: Management in practice

Abstract

AbstractPurpose: To describe current trends in therapeutic modalities to manage acute epidemic keratoconjunctivitis.Methods: We ran a descriptive study of 87 eyes of 61 patients diagnosed with acute epidemic keratoconjunctivitis confirmed by the presence of subepithelial infiltrates (SEIs) in the cornea. A clinical score based on a complete biomicroscopic examination, the measurement of visual acuity, the number of subepithelial infiltrates (SEIs), the break‐up‐time, and the value of the Schirmer type 1, has been established to evaluate symptoms.Results: The mean age of the study population was 36 ± 17 years‐old. The treatments taken in the acute phase were either prescribed by a general practitioner (10%) or an ophthalmologist (60%), or taken as self‐medication (30%). None of our patients has received nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory eye drops. Antivirals including ganciclovir were taken by 40% of the study group, artificial tears in 81 eyes (93%), antiseptics in 21% of the cases, and local antibiotics in 46 eyes (53%). The mean clinical score was 4.2 ± 2.6. There was no significant difference in the final clinical score, visual acuity, number of SEIs, break‐up time and Schirmer's value between the groups who instilled ganciclovir, artificial tears, local antibiotics as well as the healing agents and those who did not. Visual acuity was better in patients who did not use antiseptic eye drops.Conclusions: The latest treatment recommended for the acute phase of epidemic keratoconjunctivitis are artificial tears with cold compresses, local povidone‐iodine and ganciclovir. Topical antibiotics are only used in confirmed bacterial superinfection. Our studied sample did not respond much to these recommendations.