D. V. C. Nagasree1, G. Vijayalakshmi2
A total of 150 patients with clinical diagnosis of ulcerative keratitis with or without hypopyon were enrolled in this study. A maximum of patients were from age group 21 to 40 years followed by patients in the age group of 41 to 60 years and there was male predominance. Seventy percent patients hailed from rural areas. Occupation profile mainly consisted of agricultural workers (50%), followed by industrial workers (20%), students (15%), and others (15%). The most common predisposing factor was trauma with vegetable matter (52%), followed by dry eye (10%), corneal xerosis (6%) and dacryocystitis. Microbial etiology was established in 50% of scrapings. 58% were fungal, mostly due to Aspergillus. 42% were bacterial mostly Gram positivecocci staphylococcus aureus. In a majority of cases only one eye was involved (59% in the left eye and 41% in right eye). Many patients presented with multiple symptoms and most of them presented with Pain, redness, watering of eyes and decreased vision. Ulcer was central in 40%, Peripheral in 28% and in both areas in 32% of cases. 6.6% cases were diagnosed as viral keratitis. Fungal hyphae were observed in 16.66% of cases
