Superficial Punctate Keratitis

ABSTRACT

Thygeson(1950) reported the specific type of superficial punctate keratitis and suspected this probably come from viral origin. Braley(1953) described and illustrated well about the superficial punctate keratitis in his article. According to his paper, its diagnostic features can be summarized as follows; 1) Appearance as a chronic, bilateral punctate epithelial keratitis. 2) Long duration. 3) Eventual healing without scar. 4) Lack of response to systemic or topical antibiotics or sulfonamide, or to removal of corneal epithelium. 5) Striking symptomatic response to topical steroids. These diagnostic features form the basis for this report. 249 cases of this disease has been observed during the period of this study(October, 1960-July, 1962). 25 cases were available for detailed clinical and laboratory analysis. Following observations were made. 1) Corneal punctate opacity is strictly epithelial and located mostly in lower quadrant in chronic cases without associated conjunctivitis. 2) None of the cases gave a history of acute onset. 3) Long duration with remission and exacerbation. 4) No response to topical antibiotics or sulfonamide, or to removal of corneal epithelium. Remarkable symptomatic response to topical steriod. 5) No seasonal and professional relationship with this disease. 6) Normal conjunctival bacterial flora in simple culture. None of them showed inclusion bodies or significant cytological changes. No lesions developed in rabbit cornea inoculartion using scraping from conjunctiva and cornea. 7) Healing without scar. 8) Further detailed virological studies are needed for determinning the etiological agent.