A Clinical Study on Aetiopathogenesis, Course and Presentation of Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis Seeking Tertiary Eye Care in Chennai

Abstract

BACKGROUND Conjunctival diseases of the eye are varied with significant environmental influence. Though they are widely prevalent with lot of morbidity associated with it, still it is not taken that very seriously as Corneal or Retinal conditions. Yet these conjunctival diseases lead to lot of loss of productive Man Hours at work and also absenteeism at school. We decided to take up one such condition called Vernal Conjunctivitis also known by names like spring catarrh, seasonal allergic conjunctivitis etc. Its chronic course with seasonal exacerbations was studied in detail and analysed in this study. The aim of the study is to analyse aetiopathogenesis and clinical profile of vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) amongst patients attending our Eye Department at a Tertiary Care Medical College Hospital in Chennai from patient records of past 6 months.

Demography, clinical profile and compliance of patients of vernal keratoconjunctivitis in a tertiary eye care centre in Southern Karnataka

“…Similar sex distribution was noted by Rajsekar et al from Chennai. 6 We observed 60% of study participants from rural area and 40% from urban area, there are no studies which noted about distribution of VKC among rural and urban population.…”

“…Most of the patients presented in mild and moderate intermittent grade of VKC, this is similar with other studies. 3,6 There are fewer studies done to check compliance of patients for treatment in VKC.In our study in first followup all patients had taken treatment and compliant. During subsequent follow up visits increase indropout rate of patients to treatment increases.…”

“…This was similar to other studies by UjwalaSaboo et al, 3 Rajsekar 6 and Tabbara K F. 8 Family history of allergies /atopy was noted in 7% patients, which is similar to study byUjwalaSaboo et al 3 study but significantly less compared to 30 % in Rajsekar study. 6 In our study ocular signs of VKC observed were papillae(100%), 54% had Horner-Tanta's dots, 37% had focal or limbal inflammation, cobble stone appearance was noted in 27%, pannus in 17%, fine SPEE 21%, annular limbal inflammation in 20%, which is similar to other studies conducted by Ujwala Saboo et al, 3 Rajsekar 6 and Boniniet al 9 The most common clinical type of VKC observed was mixed form in 66%, limbal form in 18% and palpebral form in 16% which was similar to observation by UjwalaSaboo et al 3 But in other studies by Adhikari S et al 7 and Keziath N Malu 10 reported limbal form was commonest which was contrary to our findings. Rajsekar K 6 reported palpebral (62%) form was commonest.…”