The Clinical Manifestations of Mooren's Ulcer

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To investigate the clinical manifestations and treatment results of Mooren's ulcer. METHODS: Sixteen eyes in eleven patients who were diagnosed as Mooren's ulcer at Seoul National University Hospital from 1995 to 2000 were enrolled. The clinical manifestations and treatment results were investigated retrospectively. RESULTS: The average age was 44.2 years and the male to female ratio was 56. The average follow up period was 26 months. Five patients had bilateral involvement. Nine patients were of limited type and two of progressive type. Ocular pain was the most frequently presenting symptom(82%). Topical corticosteroid application was the main therapeutic modality (75%) and all the patients responded well to the treatment. The prognosis was better in patients with unilateral lesion or in younger patients. As complications, one case of corneal perforation and one case of herpes keratitis occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Our retrospective study on Korean Mooren's ulcer cases revealed 1) there were few cases of progressive type, 2) most of them responded well to only topical steroid application, and 3) the prognosis was poor in patients with bilateral lesions or in old patients.