Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Dec;1(4):10.1007/s40135-013-0026-0.
doi: 10.1007/s40135-013-0026-0.

Topical Corticosteroids in the Management of Bacterial Keratitis

Sonal S Tuli  1
Affiliations

Topical Corticosteroids in the Management of Bacterial Keratitis

Sonal S Tuli. Curr Ophthalmol Rep. 2013 Dec.

Abstract

Bacterial keratitis can cause significant morbidity from ulceration of the cornea and the resultant scarring. The use of steroids to decrease these complications is controversial with arguments for and against their use. The SCUT (Steroids for Corneal Ulcers Trial) was initiated in 2006 to definitively determine whether steroids in bacterial keratitis were beneficial or harmful. While the SCUT showed no benefit or harm overall, subgroup analyses showed that larger, more central ulcers with very poor initial visual acuity may benefit. On the other hand, Nocardia ulcers that were treated with steroids had worse outcomes. The study did have some limitations as the patient population was not typical for bacterial keratitis in the United States, and there were some criticisms of the therapeutic approach so the question is still not definitively answered.

Keywords: Steroids; bacterial keratitis; corneal ulcer; corticosteroids; cytokines; inflammation; perforation; scarring; ulceration.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

Sonal S. Tuli declares that there are no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Erie JC, Nevitt MP, Hodge DO, Ballard DJ. Incidence of ulcerative keratitis in a defined population from 1950 through 1988. Arch Ophthalmol. 1993;111:1665–71. - PubMed
    1. Jeng BH, Gritz DC, Kumar AB, et al. Epidemiology of ulcerative keratitis in Northern California. Arch Ophthalmol. 2010;128:1022–8. - PubMed
    1. Ibrahim YW, Boase DL, Cree IA. Epidemiological characteristics, predisposing factors and microbiological profiles of infectious corneal ulcers: the Portsmouth corneal ulcer study. Br J Ophthalmol. 2009;93:1319–24. - PubMed
    1. Upadhyay MP, Karmacharya PC, Koirala S, et al. The Bhaktapur eye study: ocular trauma and antibiotic prophylaxis for the prevention of corneal ulceration in Nepal. Br J Ophthalmol. 2001;85:388–92. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gonzales CA, Srinivasan M, Whitcher JP, Smolin G. Incidence of corneal ulceration in Madurai district, South India. Ophthalmic Epidemiol. 1996;3:159–66. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources