BACTERIAL KERATITIS FOLLOWING PHOTOTHERAPEUTIC KERATECTOMY

BACKGROUND: Phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) is effective in the tre atment of many superficial corneal disorders. The incidence of bacteri al keratitis following PTK has not been assessed in a large, prospecti ve clinical trial. METHODS: We report three cases of bacterial keratit is that occurred in a prospective study of 258 consecutive PTK procedu res at King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital. RESULTS: Three (1.2%) of 2 58 eyes developed bacterial keratitis during a period of follow up ran ging from 1 to 24 months. All three cases were in 183 eyes (1.6%) with a diagnosis of climatic droplet keratopathy, while no cases were obse rved in 75 eyes with other anterior corneal disorders. Gram-positive s pecies (Streptococcus pneumonia in two, coagulase-negative Staphylococ cus in one) were the predominant species isolated from all three cases . Two of the cases were polybacterial. The final visual outcomes range d from 20/125 to 20/400. CONCLUSIONS: The risk. of bacterial keratitis following treatment of superficial corneal disorders with PTK is low but its occurrence may adversely affect the final visual outcome.