CORNEAL ULCERS

Corneal ulcer means wound on the cornea. An uncomplicated corneal ulcer heals within 3 days without any treatment. If the ulcer doesn’t heal within one week, we term it as a complicated ulcer. This type of complicated/ indolent ulcers need farther medical or surgical management for them to heal.

Some ulcers get worse very quickly i.e. they go deeper and can quickly rupture leaving a leaking hole in the cornea. Once the ulcer ruptures, they’re is a very high risk of losing vision in the affected eye.

Nonhealing superficial ulcers can be managed with a gentle debridement with a tool called Alger brush and a bandage contact lens. The deep ulcers need more aggressive surgical treatment like corneal grafting. They’re are different corneal grafting techniques which can be selected depending on the case.