[Therapy of herpetic diseases of the anterior eye segment].

Clinico-virologic investigations and the availability of the new antiviral drug Acyclovir have changed our therapeutic approach to deep herpetic diseases. Treatment of the symptoms alone with steroids should now be avoided. Basic treatment should consist of optimal dosages of Acyclovir. However, additional steroid therapy is still necessary. Significant progress in the treatment of dendritic keratitis is to be expected as soon as high-titer interferon preparations become commercially available. Treatment of dendritic keratitis with a combination of a modern antiviral drug and high-titer interferon will reduce the average time the corneal epithelium takes to heal from the present 6 days to 3 days. While considerable progress has been made in the treatment of herpes, no more than a step in the right direction has been taken with herpes zoster varicellosus virus, owing to its greater resistance to Acyclovir.