A pseudoepidemic of postoperative scleritis due to misdiagnosis

OBJECTIVE: To describe a pseudoepidemic of infectious scleritis following e ye surgery. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study with selected procedural and laboratory investigations. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients with postoperative scleritis were identified d uring a 2-month outbreak. Neither an infectious etiology nor a causative pr e-, intra-, or postoperative exposure was found. The clinical findings, whe n carefully reviewed, were consistent with poor surgical-wound closure. CONCLUSIONS: The art of clinical diagnosis involves the subjective interpre tation of clinical history, physical findings, and laboratory results. A re peated error in the interpretation of clinical findings can simulate an out break of disease. Clinicians may be reluctant to concede misdiagnosis.