Intraocular pressure; incidence of steroid induced rise in local population of normal, V.K.C and C.S.G patients

ABSTRACT

To assess the incidence of steroid induced rise in intra-ocular pressure in different group of patients. The study was conducted in the department of ophthalmology Akhtar Saeed Trust Teaching Hospital of Akhtar Saeed Medical and Dental College Lahore and Continental Medical College Lahore from Jan 2009 to Oct 2010. Three groups were formulated in which group A comprised of normal population with no ocular disease, group B included patients with vernal keratoconjunctivitis while group C comprised of chronic simple glaucoma patients with controlled intraocular pressure. Dexamethasone 0.1% eye drops were used four times daily for four weeks and patients were evaluated weekly in terms of IOP monitoring after which they were labeled as either low or non-responders, moderate responders or high responders. In group A 40% of the patients showed rise in IOP, group B showed 95% rise in IOP and the response in group C cases was 100%. Topical steroids result in significant rise in IOP therefore careful monitoring should be done in all patients on corticosteroids