A middle aged man presents complaining of foreign body sensation in his eye, subjective fever, pain with spontaneous eye opening and ipsilateral ear pain. On exam, you don’t see any foreign bodies, but you do note multiple corneal infiltrates. What’s going on?
Epidermal keratoconjunctivitis. Caused by adenovirus type 8, treatment is the same as general viral conjunctivitis, but a possible complication is blindness. Thusly, when suspicious, the patient should have prompt follow up with ophtho, where they may have irrigation, manual removal of pseudomembranes, abx, lubricant eye drops and/or steroids.
Refs:
Jacobs, DS. Conjunctivitis. UpToDate.
Adel Mohamed Waly. New Management of Epidemic Viral Keratoconjunctivitis. The Internet Journal of Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 2005. Volume 3 Number 2.
