Vernal conjunctivitis as an atopic disease.

In a study of 30 cases of vernal conjunctivitis, antibodies to grass pollen were demonstrated in 16 of 29 patients tested by direct skin tests, in 11 of 30 tested by the Prausnitz-Kustner method and in 22 of 30 by the bis-diazotized benzidine hemagglutination method.A personal history of major atopic disease was found in 13 of 27 patients, and a family history of atopic disease in 16 of 26 patients questioned.Conjunctival eosinophilia was found in all cases. Results of the study indicated that vernal conjunctivitis is an atopic disease.