Acanthamoeba Keratitis: Perspectives for Patients.

Purpose: To unveil the long-term prognosis of Acanthamoeba keratitis based on clinical presentation and timing of diagnosis to better inform patients since the first visit regarding their length of treatment, quality of life, and visual function.Methods: Retrospective observational study enrolling patients with Acanthamoeba keratitis from 1994 to 2019. Patients with a complete eye examination and medical records were analyzed. The severity of the disease, the time from onset of symptoms to the appropriate therapeutic regimen, the time until clinical resolution, visual function, and long term follow-up was evaluated. Quality of life was assessed at the last follow-up visit by means of the VFQ-25 questionnaire.Results: Thirty-five patients (40 eyes) were assessed. The overall healing time of patients with Acanthamoeba keratitis was 12.5 ± 3.5 months, while patients with a severe corneal ulcer (stage III) had a significant longer healing time (16.2 ± 3.7 months) compared to patients with stage II (7.04 ± 0.7 months) or I (7.7 ± 1.5 months; p < .05). Patients who received a prompt therapy (<30 days form symptoms onset) had a reduced healing time compared to patients with a delayed diagnosis (p < .01). Quality of life was assessed after a mean of 11.7 ± 4.7 years and it was mildly reduced (86.6 ± 17). Patients that were diagnosed early (<30 days from onset) showed a lower reduction in quality of life than in patients that were diagnosed >30 days from onset. After resolution, 59% of the patients considered unnecessary any further proposed surgical intervention.Conclusions: Delayed diagnosis of Acanthamoeba keratitis and disease severity significantly increases healing time and duration of treatment. The time to diagnosis and disease stage at diagnosis predicts the duration of treatment, the final outcome, quality of life, and the requirement of surgery. These data would allow us to promptly inform patients about long-term disease timeline, future outcomes, improving disease acceptance, and quality of life.

Vision-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes in the Mycotic Ulcer Treatment Trial I: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

IMPORTANCE: Given the limitations in health care resources, quality-of-life measures for interventions have gained importance. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether vision-related quality-of-life outcomes were different between the natamycin and voriconazole treatment arms in the Mycotic Ulcer Treatment Trial I, as measured by an Indian Vision Function Questionnaire. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Secondary analysis (performed October 11-25, 2014) of a double-masked, multicenter, randomized, active comparator-controlled, clinical trial at multiple locations of the Aravind Eye Care System in South India that enrolled patients with culture- or smear-positive filamentous fungal corneal ulcers who had a baseline visual acuity of 20/40 to 20/400 (logMAR of 0.3-1.3). INTERVENTIONS: Study participants were randomly assigned to topical voriconazole, 1%, or topical natamycin, 5%. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Subscale score on the Indian Vision Function Questionnaire from each of the 4 subscales (mobility, activity limitation, psychosocial impact, and visual function) at 3 months. RESULTS: A total of 323 patients were enrolled in the trial, and 292 (90.4%) completed the Indian Vision Function Questionnaire at 3 months. The majority of study participants had subscale scores consistent with excellent function. After adjusting for baseline visual acuity and organism, we found that study participants in the natamycin-treated group scored, on average, 4.3 points (95% CI, 0.1-8.5) higher than study participants in the voriconazole-treated group (P = .046). In subgroup analyses looking at ulcers caused by Fusarium species and adjusting for baseline best spectacle-corrected visual acuity, the natamycin-treated group scored 8.4 points (95% CI, 1.9-14.9) higher than the voriconazole-treated group (P = .01). Differences in quality of life were not detected for patients with Aspergillus or other non-Fusarium species as the causative organism (1.5 points [95% CI, -3.9 to 6.9]; P = .52). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: We found evidence of improvement in vision-related quality of life among patients with fungal ulcers who were randomly assigned to natamycin compared with those randomly assigned to voriconazole, and especially among patients with Fusarium species as the causative organism. Incorporation of quality-of-life measures in clinical trials is important to fully evaluate the effect of the studied interventions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier:NCT00996736.

Keratomalacia caused by psychiatric-induced dietary restrictions.

PURPOSE: To describe the unique presentation, clinical course, management, and outcome of vitamin A deficiency-induced keratomalacia leading to bilateral corneal melts and ulcers in a patient with severe dietary restrictions because of psychiatric disease. METHODS: Review of patient's record and literature pertinent to her condition. RESULTS: A 33-year-old woman with a phobia of consuming most foods presented with bilateral corneal ulcers and melts from an unusual case of keratomalacia caused by vitamin A deficiency. The disease process progressed to bilateral perforations necessitating emergent bilateral penetrating keratoplasties. Pathologic examination confirmed classic signs of xerosis and keratomalacia. To our knowledge, our case is unique in that it is the only one in which the histopathology of the corneal lesion is described. CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatric diseases, particularly eating disorders limiting sufficient nutrient intake, can lead to severe ocular surface disease that can be both vision- and life threatening.

Factitious bilateral crystalline keratopathy.

We report a case of bilateral factitious crystalline keratopathy in an 18-year-old man. Initial slit-lamp examination revealed corneal ulcers characterized by stromal infiltrates with intrastromal blue refractile crystals O.D. greater than O.S. Through careful history taking, the patient admitted to bilaterally injecting eyeshadow into the corneal stroma. The importance of maintaining a high index of suspicion in bilateral atypical corneal ulcers in patients without a history of trauma or contact lens exposure is essential. Discussion of the differential diagnoses and approach to therapy is included.