An analytical study on the ocular manifestations of autoimmune blistering skin disorders, in patients attending a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Autoimmune blistering skin diseases are a heterogeneous group of diseases that have as their common feature autoantibodies directed against desmosomal structural proteins. They can sometimes affect the eye, with manifestations ranging from mild to potentially vision threatening. To evaluate the spectrum and incidence of ocular manifestations and to analyze whether early ophthalmological examination will be beneficial in reducing ocular morbidity.rn Hospital based analytical study conducted at Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. This study involved 100 patients diagnosed with autoimmune blistering skin disorder attending Dermatology and Ophthalmology outpatient department and included a comprehensive ocular examination of the patients. The collected data were analysed with IBM.SPSS statistics software 23.0 Version. To find the association of significance in categorical data the Chi-Square test was used. In the above statistical tool, the probability value .05 was considered as significant level. Autoimmune blistering skin diseases were associated with a significant proportion of ocular manifestations, of which in this study, dry eye and conjunctivitis were the most common. Dry eye and conjunctivitis were the most common ocular manifestations in this study. Though none of the patients had vision threatening manifestations, a comprehensive ocular examination and follow up of these patients is necessary.