Ophthalmic findings of newly diagnosed leprosy patients in Istanbul Leprosy Hospital, Turkey

The objective of this study was to detect ocular lesions of newly diagnosed leprosy cases admitted to Istanbul Leprosy Hospital, The patients were categorized according to sex, age, type of leprosy and duration of the disease, Their eves were categorized as with or without ocular findings due to leprosy, The total number of patients was 21. The mean age was 22+/-4.6 years, the duration of the disease was 36.3+/-19.6 months, Madarosis was the most common finding in this group, It was found in 15 patients (71.4%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 47.8-88.7%), As a second common finding related to corneal alterations, 13 patients had nerve thickening (61.9%, 95% Cl 38.4-81.8%). None of our patients had trichiasis, episcleritis, scleritis, cataract, iris atrophy, iris pearl, abnormal vitreous or retinal findings

Corneal sensitivity and correlations between decreased sensitivity and anterior segment pathology in ocular leprosy.

Leprosy is one of the leading causes of corneal hyposensitivity. In this article the corneal sensitivity of 143 leprosy patients was examined, and correlations between corneal hyposensitivity and anterior segment pathology were detected. Twenty four healthy volunteers were examined as controls. Various degrees of corneal loss of sensitivity were found in 46.2% of leprosy patients. Lagophthalmos, chronic lepromatous granulomatous uveitis, iris atrophy, and social blindness were found 4.5-16.6 times more frequently in eyes which developed severe corneal hyposensitivity

Influence of untreated chronic plastic iridocyclitis on intraocular pressure in leprosy patients.

The intraocular pressures of a total of 286 eyes of patients with lepromatous and borderline lepromatous leprosy who never had regular ophthalmological care or local eye treatment were measured. The patients were categorised according to the type of leprosy they had, and the eyes were categorised as without or with chronic plastic iridocyclitis. In patients with lepromatous and borderline lepromatous types of leprosy the intraocular pressure was significantly lower in eyes with chronic plastic iridocylitis 10.1 (3.6) mmHg than in both unaffected eyes 11.0 (3.2) mmHg and control eyes 13.5 (2.5) mmHg. It has been shown that chronic plastic iridocyclitis which remains untreated for years results in a lower intraocular pressure than normal

THE PROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF METHYL CELLULOSE AND CONOID SHIELDS FOR LAGOPHTHALMOS AND CORNEAL HYPAESTHESIA IN LEPROSY

Lagophthalmos and corneal hypaesthesia are amongst the most frequently encountered lesions in leprosy and they can easily give rise to blindness. Many measures (such as eye drops, protective conoid shields, muscle exercises, surgical treatment etc.) have been used to protect the eyes under such circumstances and this paper examines the protective role of methyl cellulose and conoid shields in 41 patients. All of them had lagophthalmos (5 mm or more) and corneal hypaesthesia. They were divided into three groups. Group one had 15 leprosy control patients (27 eyes) who did not use methyl cellulose or eye shields. Group two had 16 leprosy patients (28 eyes) and they used methyl cellulose and eye shields when they felt discomfort in their eyes. Group three had 10 leprosy patients (17 eyes) and they used methyl cellulose and eye shields regularly. Statistically significant improvement was seen in group three. Further studies on larger groups of patients including the effects of different concentrations of methyl cellulose, on Schirmer test and tear break up time, may be of value

Pupil cycle time and early autonomic involvement in ocular leprosy.

Ocular complications of leprosy patients often develop insidiously and with few if any symptoms. This study involves measurement of the pupil cycle time (PCT) to evaluate the autonomic nerve system of the iris to determine the presence of subclinical intraocular involvement. The study included 19 lepromatous (LL), 19 borderline lepromatous (BL), and five borderline tuberculoid (BT) leprosy patients and involved 25 healthy volunteers, 10 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and eight with Duhring disease. The PCT was measured in these groups. In all leprosy groups included in the study the PCT was higher than in the control groups. Moreover, the PCT of the leprosy patients without any intraocular involvement was higher than in the controls. These results show that in the ophthalmic examination of leprosy patients without any symptoms the fact that autonomic nerve system of the eye is affected by the leprosy can often be determined by measuring the PCT