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Purpose: To present the case of a patient with a history of trauma and corneal foreign body in the right eye, followed by decreased visual acuity in the right eye, corneal perforation with good recovery after surgical treatment. Material and method: We report a case of a patient who presented to our clinic with a sudden decrease of visual acuity in the right eye, two months after an incident resulting in a corneal foreign body in the right eye. In the case presented, the patient applied a local medical self-treatment, an antibiotic and a topical corticosteroid. After a few weeks, the patient presented to the ophthalmologist, a foreign body was extracted from the cornea of the right eye and a topical treatment with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, a cycloplegic and an antibiotic were indicated. However, corneal perforation occurred and the patient was urgently sent to our service, where a corneal anaesthesia was also found. Results: Corneal perforation healed with a minor paracentral opacification. Discussions: Corneal perforation in our patient was due to corneal melting because of topical steroid anti-inflammatory autotherapy, late corneal foreign body extraction and topical treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Corneal anesthesia is also an important factor that enhances corneal melting and perforation. The surgical intervention performed healed the corneal perforation. Conclusions: Corneal anaesthesia and topical anti-inflammatory administration led to corneal perforation. Corneal sensitivity should be tested in patients with corneal foreign body. Corneal patching proved to be an adequate solution in this patient.

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Neurotrophic keratopathy (NK), or neurotrophic keratitis, is a degenerative condition that results from decreased innervation to the cornea. The cornea is innervated by the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve. Neurotrophic keratopathy is most commonly caused by herpes keratitis however, any condition that disrupts the normal corneal innervation can cause NK. Neurotrophic keratopathy is a clinical diagnosis and is classified into three stages based on the disease severity. Stage 1 has mild epithelial defects, such as punctate keratopathy, stage 2 disease has persistent epithelial defects, and stage 3 is defined by the presence of ulcers. Current treatment modalities consist of medical and surgical options. Stage 1 is treated with lubrication through artificial tears, eyelid taping, and punctal plug/cautery. Stage 2 treatment can involve therapeutic contact lenses, topical autologous or allogenic serum, tarsorrhaphy, botulinum toxin injections, and possibly anti-inflammatory medications. Stage 3 disease may require human nerve growth factor, amniotic membrane transplantation, conjunctival flap, or corneal neurotization. New therapies, such as matrix regenerating therapy, plasma rich in growth factors, Thymosin ß4, Substance P/Insulin like growth factor-1, and nicergoline represent exciting future options.KEY MESSAGESNeurotrophic keratopathy is a rare degenerative disease defined by decreased innervation to the cornea that is associated with significant morbidity.Treatment options range from lubrication alone to various medical and surgical treatments.Matrix regenerating therapy, plasma rich in growth factors, Thymosin ß4, Substance P/Insulin like growth factor-1, and nicergoline are exciting novel therapies that will influence how neurotrophic keratopathy is treated in the future.

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PURPOSE: Neurotrophic keratopathy (NK) is a degenerative corneal disease caused by damage to the trigeminal innervation due to a decrease in corneal sensitivity or complete anaesthesia. Impaired corneal innervation leads to morphological and metabolic disorders of the epithelium. In addition, it also leads to the development of recurrent or persistent epithelial defects in corneal ulcers, which may progress to stromal lysis and corneal perforation. One possible solution for severe NK is reinnervation of the anaesthetic cornea (corneal neurotization) using the supraorbital nerve and an autologous sensory nerve graft (indirect neurotization). This article presents the results of corneal neurotization in a young male patient with persistent epithelial defects and corneal ulcers due to corneal denervation. RESULTS: A 22-year-old man with a history of neurosurgery for astrocytoma of the cerebellum and trunk on the right side at the age of 2 years, was observed for postoperative paresis of the right facial nerve with lagophthalmos in his childhood. The presence of asymptomatic dysfunction of the right trigeminal nerve was also noted. At the age of 22 years, after right eyeball contusion, the vision of the right eye decreased and a persistent epithelial defect developed, followed by corneal ulceration. Due to the exhaustion of therapeutic options in a young patient with corneal anaesthesia, the cornea was reinnervated via the contralateral supraorbital nerve using an autologous sural nerve graft. Five months after the surgery, the sensitivity of the cornea of the right eye began to recover. After amniotic membrane transplantation, the extensive epithelial defect healed, and the opaque corneal stroma gradually cleared up. CONCLUSION: The reinnervation of the anaesthetic cornea (corneal neurotization) using the supraorbital nerve and the autologous sensory nerve graft represents a new solution for severe NK treatment. The severe corneal condition in our patient healed after the surgery.

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A detailed eye examination of 145 inmates of a leprosy rehabilitation centre was done to determine the prevalence of ocular involvement. Age, gender of patients, type and duration of leprosy, systemic disabilities were noted. The mean age of patients was 45.8 years (range 19-70 years); 72.4% were males; 55.2% were suffering from paucibacillary leprosy. The mean duration of leprosy was 18.2 years in multibacillary type and 13.1 years in paucibacillary type. Ocular lesions related to leprosy were seen in 85.5% of patients; more often in multibacillary leprosy (92.3%). Corneal changes (80.7%) were the most frequently observed lesions followed by eye lid lesions (48.2%). Potentially sight threatening lesions such as lagophthalmos (23.4%), cornealanaesthesia (43.4%), and iridocyclitis (8.9%) were seen in both types of leprosy. Nine out of 26 (34.6%) patients with history of erythema nodosum leprosum reaction showed eye changes related to this reaction. Blindness in one eye due to lesions related to leprosy was seen in 2.7% of eyes. Age related cataract was the most common cause of blindness in patients of leprosy. The prevalence of ocular lesions was found to be high in the inmates of leprosy rehabilitation centre, and they were seen more frequently in patients with longer duration of the disease. Potentially sight threatening lesions were more often associated with systemic disabilities in these patients.