ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Juvenile glaucoma is an uncommon form of chronic open angle glaucoma that appears between 3 and 35 years of age. METHODS: We report in this study seven cases of juvenile glaucoma that occurred in patients melanoderma. RESULTS: Three of them had unilateral blindness and in two others visual acuity was reduced to light perception in one eye. The intraocular pressure is above to 30 mmHg in 64.3% of the cases and a myopia was frequently associated. CONCLUSION: The insidious development of this pathology and the difficulty of its diagnosis among children often result in severe clinical manifestations with high visual field defects and optic disc cuppings particularly in melanoderma patients. Recent studies have proved autosomal dominant transmission with variable penetrance for one kind of juvenile glaucoma and location of the defective gene on chromosome 1q.
Subject(s)
Glaucoma, Open-Angle/diagnosis , Adolescent , Adult , Age of Onset , Blindness/etiology , Chronic Disease , Female , Genes, Dominant , Glaucoma, Open-Angle/complications , Glaucoma, Open-Angle/genetics , Glaucoma, Open-Angle/therapy , Humans , Intraocular Pressure , Male , Myopia/complications , Pedigree , Refraction, Ocular , Visual AcuityABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: The objective of this study is to enter on an inventory and to appreciate the severity of the ocular burn caused by the latex of manchineel tree and to propose a therapeutic attitude. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We report on the results of a prospective study included 11 patients examined in the Department of Ophthalmology (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Fort-de-France) between November 1992 and November 1993. All of them presented with ocular burn due to a contact with the latex of the manchineel tree. RESULTS: The study included 11 patients, 8 adults and 3 children, the mean age was 22.9 years (range 4-40). All of them had hyperhemia and conjunctival erosions of various intensity. Ten patients had corneal lesions: superficial punctate keratitis in 5 cases and corneal ulcers in 5 cases. Three cases of corneal ulcerations were associated with an inflammatory reaction of the anterior segment. Both eyes were affected in 4 cases (37%), and only the right one in the other cases (63%). Seven patients had cutaneous lesions (63%), of whom 4 periocular burns of superficial second degree. Full recovery was obtained within 15 days for all the patients. CONCLUSION: Ocular lavage is the first treatment, as for all chemical burns. Local antibiotherapy is used systematically to prevent superinfection. With a proper treatment, a complete recovery with no sequelae is obtained.
