Further examination of three important cornea health topics

I participated in the excellent Cornea Health Round Table organized and moderated by Terry Kim, MD, at OSN New York 2014. For those interested, OSN New York is held every fall and enjoys a great reputation for clinically useful information using a case study format. I will share a few more thoughts on the three core topics presented in the cover story: epidemic keratoconjunctivitis, toxic anterior segment syndrome and the MRSA/MRSE positive patient who is scheduled for cataract surgery.As Jodi Luchs, MD, mentioned during the discussion, based on the experience of several clinical trials, the differential diagnosis of the red eye can be difficult, with many errors in diagnosis when clinical impressions are compared with definitive cultures and laboratory diagnostics. This is a potential problem because a misdiagnosed EKC patient can create an epidemic in an ophthalmologist’s office. It is wise for the front desk person to triage the patient with an acute red eye to a specific examination room. The patient with an acute red eye should not go room to room with multiple tests by multiple technicians because viral keratoconjunctivitis, especially EKC, is very contagious.