Atopic conjunctivitis. A cytologic examination.

Tarsal conjunctival scrapings of the lower and upper eyelids of 21 atopic, pollen allergic patients with conjunctivitis were examined three times; during a symptom-free period, during a challenge test and during the pollen season. Eosinophils were also counted from the conjunctival fluid of 17 patients, but only of 12 patients during the challenge. The controls were 10 atopic patients without conjunctivitis (K0), 31 normal persons (K1), who were examined routinely in the course of a spectacle prescription and 45 patients with acute conjunctivitis (K2) of other than allergic origin. A statistically significant difference in the occurrence of eosinophils in the scrapings was found between the pollen allergic patients and the normal control patients but not between patients with atopic or non-atopic conjunctivitis. During the challenge test, the occurrence of eosinophils in the scrapings increased for at least an hour after the challenge had become positive. In the pollen allergic patients eosinophils were equally abundant during the symptom-free and pollen seasons. It is concluded that the occurrence of eosinophils in the conjunctival scraping is not a reliable clinical indicator of allergy.