Cases of Amniotic Membrane Transplantation for Herpetic Keratitis

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) on recurrent herpetic keratitis with unhealed corneal epithelial erosion. METHODS: We performed AMT on 5 cases of herpetic keratitis from February 2004 to August 2005. We had applied two layers of fresh amniotic membrane over the corneal lesion and anchored by running suture technique with 10-0 nylon. RESULTS: After AMT, visual acuity improved in 5 eyes of 5 herpetic keratitis patients. In all patients the persistent epithelial erosion was healed and pain was subsided after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: The AMT shortened the usage of antiviral agents and antibiotics, increased compliance, and decreased corneal opacity and neovascularization. The AMT is an effective method for managing recurrent herpetic keratitis with unhealed corneal epithelial erosion that are refractory to conventional treatment.

Clinical Evaluation of Multiple Punctate Epithelial Erosion

The 747 corneal epithelial erosion cases were evaluated clinically from January 1986 to February 1988 at Catholic University Medical College, St. Mary's Hospital. The results were as follows: 1. Out of 747 corneal epithelial erosion cases, 286 cases(38.3%) and 283 cases(37.9%) resulted from mechanical and postoperative causes, respectively. 2. The large number of cases were foung in the age group of 1 to 9 years(21.9%) and in the ages older than 60 years(l9.8%), which were in proportion to the said causes. 3. The onset of corneal erosion after cataract extraction within postoperative 3 weeks(56.1%) was most common. There were 115 cases(45.3%) in which corneal erosions developed after the cataract extraction lasted up to 2 weeks. 4. The cure rate of corneal erosion was 85.0%(635 cases), and in corneal erosion developed after cataract extraction was 89.8%(254 cases). 5. There was no statistical significance in the frequency of corneal erosions developed after cataract extraction among diabetics and nondiabetics.