Mooren’s ulcer in China: a study of clinical characteristics and treatment

Abstract

The authors investigated the clinical characteristics and compared the effects of several methods of treatment of Mooren’s corneal ulcer. There were 550 consecutive patients with Mooren’s corneal ulcer analyzed, including age, sex, laterality of eye, ulcer location, perforation rate, cure rate of surgeries, recurrent rate, the effects of conjunctiva excision, lamellar keratoplasty (LKP), and LKP plus 1% cyclosporin A eye drops. The average age of onset was 48.4 years of age. The ratio of males to females was 1:0.74. There were 165 (30%) cases with bilateral disease, of which 52 (31.5%) occurred in the young age group and 113 (68.5%) in the old age group. The ulcers in 501 eyes (70.1%) were located at the limbus of the palpebral fissure. The perforation rate was 13.3%, with perforation in 41 eyes (43.2%) occurring in the young age group and 54 (56.8%) in the old age group. Postoperative recurrence rate was 25.6%. The cure rate after the first procedure of LKP plus 1% cyclosporin A eye drops was 73.7%. The final cure rate was 95.6%, and the postoperative preservation rate of the eye globe was 99.7%. This primary study provided the clinical characteristics of patients with Mooren’s corneal ulcer in China. LKP plus 1% cyclosporin A eye drops was an effective treatment in their patients.—Thomas J. Liesegang.