Shrikrishna Ingle¹,Lahari Aitharaju²,Krishna Chaitanya P³

¹Associate Professor,^2,3Postgraduate student,Department of Ophthalmology, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences,Karimnagar,Telangana,India.

Address for correspondence: Dr. Shrikrishna Ingle,Associate Professor,Department of Ophthalmology,Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences,Karimnagar,Telangana,India.
Email: skingle2003@yahoo.co.in

Aims and objectives: To study the mode of presentation,risk factors and clinical presentation of fungal corneal ulcer,investigations regarding the type of fungus and the statistics regarding the common type of fungi that involve the cornea.

Materials and Methods :The materials for the study were drawn from corneal ulcer patients attending the Outpatient Department of Ophthalmology and 40 patients with fungal corneal ulcers were recruited for the study.

Results :Majority of patients were in the age group of working population from 21 -65 years. It was least in very young and old patients.Fungal ulcer was more common in males. Most of the patients were farmers (57%), followed by homemaker (15 %), others (13%) . The majority of patients 12 (30%) had trauma with vegetative matter.77.5 % were from rural areas whereas the rest of the 22.5 % were from urban areas.Fusarium was the commonest organism identified in 30% of patients followed by Aspergillusflavus(25%).

Conclusion :Microbiological work up goes a long way in facilitating specific therapy in fungal corneal ulcers. Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) mounts were in agreement with fungal culture in 62.5%of cases and so it can be used as a quick and reliable method to find out fungal etiology of corneal ulcers and treatment can be started immediately without waiting for the culture reports to arrive.

Keywords : Fungal corneal ulcer, KOH mount, Fungal culture