Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2013

Journal

Clinical Ophthalmology

Volume

Volume 7

Inclusive Pages

2113-2122

Abstract

Infection is a very important but rare cause of scleritis, occurring in about 5%–10% of all patients presenting with scleral inflammation. However, due to the similarity of its presentation, infectious scleritis is often initially managed as autoimmune, potentially further worsening its outcome. The overall visual outcome in infectious scleritis is generally worse than its autoimmune counterparts, perhaps because of the delay in diagnosis or because of the aggressive nature of associated microbes. Thus, there is a definite need for insight into the diagnostic approach and treatment options for this ocular disease process. Several studies and case reports have been published in recent years that have provided useful information regarding the presenting clinical features and etiologic microbial agents in infectious scleritis. This review summarizes the important findings in the literature that may aid in differentiating infectious scleritis from other etiologies, including predisposing factors, microbe-specific characteristics, diagnostic tools, treatment modalities, and outcomes.

Comments

Reproduced with permission of Dove Press Clinical Ophthalmology.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License

Peer Reviewed

1

Open Access

1

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