Prognostic indicators of herpetic keratitis. Analysis of a five-year observation period after corneal ulceration.

Clinical features of 152 patients with herpetic keratitis after a five-year observation period were analyzed. When compared with dendritic ulceration, geographic ulcers that had been symptomatically present for a longer time were more likely to have been treated with a topical steroid and took longer to heal. After treatment of the corneal ulceration, 40% of the patients experienced a recurrent herpetic ulcer, 25% experienced disciform or irregular stromal keratouveitis, 5% experienced ocular hypertension, and 6% had a decrease in visual acuity caused by corneal scarring. Recurrent ulcerative herpetic keratitis occurred more frequently in men and in patients who entered the study with a history or previous herpetic ulceration.