Treatment of chemical burns of the eye.

Abstract

THE VAST amount of literature on chemical burns of the eye has clearly outlined certain fundamental concepts of the altered physiology present in such injuries, but the application of this information is yet difficult to attain. Our knowledge of the basic mechanisms involved in ocular burns was considerably advanced during the war years through the combined efforts of research workers in this country and abroad. The most noteworthy result of their efforts was the finding of a suitable specific treatment for eyes burned with lewisite (β-chlorovinyl-2-chloroarsine) by employing dimercaprol, commonly known as BAL (British antilewisite). After the fundamental investigations of the Oxford group that led to the use of dimercaprol for lewisite lesions of the skin, Mann 1 and other British investigators were the first to evaluate dimercaprol therapy for ocular lesions. More recently, calsulfhydryl (hydrosulfosol® 2 ) has received attention from ophthalmologists, following a report by Kuhn. 3 This investigator