Irritant skin reactions can be evaluated by several techniques. Using different scores for the degree of erythema, edema, scaling and fissuring is the time-honored approach but implies t,he disadventagrs of lacking objectivity and pararretric properties. This paper describes the objective nteasurement of irritant. skin responses to various concentrations of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate(SLS) and Ethanol by a color reflectance meter(Chroma Meter) and compares with visual scoring The results are summarized as follows : 1. Pretreatment assessments by a Chroma Meter on normal forearm area showed an average score of 7.70+1.53 for Chroma Meter value a*(rediies:; score). 2. Skin responses to SLS in various concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 7.5% under occlusion for 24 hours were assessed by visual scoring system. They are measured 0.56+1.10, 0.74+1.29, 1.19 1.36, 2.11+1.69, 2.19+1.91, 2.56+1.50 2.81+2.16 respectively. 3. Skin responses to SLS in various concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 7.5% under occlusion for 24 hour were assessed by a Chroma Meter valu a*(redness score). They are measured 8.29+1.98, 8.37+2.47, 9.31+2.27, 10.34+2.97, 10.35+3.18, 10.51+2.47, 11.61+3.45 respectively. 4. Skin responses to Ethanol in various concentrations were nearly negligible. 5. We have demonstrated there is a highly significant correlation between skin redness measured by the Chroma Meter and visually assessed erypthma(p<0.0001). It yields reproducible, objective, quantitative measurements of iryhema that parallel the subjective visual assessments.
Edema ; Erythema* ; Ethanol* ; Forearm ; Humans ; Male ; Skin* ; Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate* ; Sodium*

Seventeen patients with classical rheumatoid arthritis have been treated with gold sodium thiomalate(G.S.T) injection and followed up for 1.7 years on average. The results obtained are as follows: 1. Clinical improvement was obtained in 12(70.3%) out of 17 cases, but only in 5 cases(29.3%) marked and persisting improvement was obtained. Such improvement was first noticed when the total dose of the gold sodium thiomalate reached 500mg or more, and also noticed about 10 weeks after initiation of G.S.T therapy. 2. Changes in laboratory parameters such as hemoglobin, hematocrit, eosinophilia, titers of rheumatoid factor and C-reactive protein, and proteinuria began to appear at the time of the clinical improvement. 3. Adverse reaction consisted mostly of mucocutaneous lesions. The main causes of drop-out during therapy also are severe skin rashes and pruritus. Most of the adverse reactions appeared when the total dose of G.S.T. administered reached over 500mg. In two severe cases skin rashes terminated the gold therapy. Our findings suggest, because of high incidence of adverse reaction during G.S.T therapy, repeated careful clinical and laboratory examination of the patient are mandatory especially when the total dose of G.S.T is reached 500mg. In spite of the well documented reports of the maintenance gold therapy for rheumatoid arthritis it is felt that the maintenance gold therapy should be studied further before it can be safely used as a routine in daily rheumatology practice because of its toxicity.
Arthritis ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; C-Reactive Protein ; Eosinophilia ; Exanthema ; Gold Sodium Thiomalate ; Hematocrit ; Humans ; Incidence ; Proteinuria ; Pruritus ; Rheumatoid Factor ; Rheumatology ; Sodium

Congenital coloboma which is characterized by an absence of a part of normal ocular tissues involving iris, lens, ciliary body, choroid, and optic nerve. And choroidal coloboma is a rare disease in which there are defects of a part or all parts of choroid and retinal pigment epithelium. Retinal detachment has been reported in 23-42% of the patients with choroidal coloboma, and when retinal breaks are within the area of coloboma, conventional scleral buckling technique has resulted in low rates of anatomic success. We report a case of choroidal coloboma combined by retinal detachment which was treated by pars, plana vitrectomy, fluid-gas exchange, and laser photocoagulation.
Choroid* ; Ciliary Body ; Coloboma* ; Humans ; Iris ; Light Coagulation ; Optic Nerve ; Rare Diseases ; Retinal Detachment* ; Retinal Perforations ; Retinal Pigment Epithelium ; Retinaldehyde* ; Scleral Buckling ; Vitrectomy

The scleral fixation of a posterior chamber intraocular lens is known to be a technique for managing cataract, aphakia, lens dislocation, pseudophakic bullous keratopathy with incomplete zonular or capsular support. We performed a retrospective review of longterm results and complications of 86 patients(103 eyes) who had a minimum of 12 months follow-up after scleral fixation of a posterior chamber intraocular lenses. At the last examination, mean postoperative corrected visual acuity is 0.7 +/- 0.28 and 62 eyes(57.4%) had a vision of 0.8 or better. Especially in aphakia, postoperative corrected visual acuity was significantly improved. The complications related to scleral fixation were exposed scleral fixation suture, glaucoma, cystoid macular edema, subluxation of intraocular lenses, retinal detachment, herpetic keratitis, vitreous hemorrhage and vitreous opacity. The other factors influenced on visual acuity were age-related macular degeneration, optic atrophy, diabetic retinopathy and clinical significant macular edema, and corneal opacity. Though these longterm results suggest that overall prognosis for visual acuity is quite good, careful assessment preoperatively and proper management are important.
Aphakia ; Cataract ; Corneal Opacity ; Diabetic Retinopathy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glaucoma ; Keratitis, Herpetic ; Lens Subluxation ; Lenses, Intraocular* ; Macular Degeneration ; Macular Edema ; Optic Atrophy ; Prognosis ; Retinal Detachment ; Retrospective Studies ; Sutures ; Visual Acuity ; Vitreous Hemorrhage

Neonatal and Infantile conjunctivitis are common disease in ophthalmologic outpatient department but, a study of causative organisms and antibiotics sensitivity tests are insufficient till now We divided 117 babies(117eyes) having conjunctivitis into neonatal and infantile group who were visited Sung-Ae General Hospital from Jan, 1989 to May, 1990. We performed bacterial culture and antibiotic sensitivity test. The results were as follows; 1) Culture positive rates are 65% in neonates and 87% in infants. There is no sexual difference of ratio. 2) The incidence of isolated organisms is Staphylococcus aureus, Coagulase negative staphylococcus and Streptococcus. 3) Cephalothin is most sensitive antibiotics and Chloramphenicol shows relatively lower sensitivity.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Cephalothin ; Chloramphenicol ; Coagulase ; Conjunctivitis* ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Outpatients ; Staphylococcus ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Streptococcus

Color developers(CD) have been noted to produce lichen planus like eruption as well as eczematous contact dermatitis. The chemicals involved are derivatives of paraphenylenediamine or aniline, i. e., Kodak CD 2, Kodak CD 3, Agfa TSS. We report a 28-year-old male who showed a feature of lichenoid contact dermatitis after exposure to color developer. Patch test revealed positive reactions to CD2, CD3 and CD4. Skin biopsy from a patch site showed lichen planus-like tissue reaction.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Dermatitis ; Dermatitis, Contact* ; Humans ; Lichen Planus ; Lichens ; Male ; Patch Tests ; Skin

PURPOSE: To report the result of Fresnel prism application and adaptation for visual field relocation and functional vision improvement in homonymous hemianopsia patients. METHODS: Fifteen homonymous hemianopsia patients were prescribed Fresnel prism. To expand the visual field, Fresnel prism was placed base-out toward the defective field and patients were given an adaptation period of 1 month. The effects of the prism on field expansion was evaluated using Goldmann perimetry. In addition, the NEI-VFQ25 questionnaire was utilized asking patients regarding their subjective functional vision and satisfaction in daily life before and after using the Fresnel prism. RESULTS: After 1 month of Fresnel prism prescription, 53% of patients showed objective visual field expansion to the defective field of 12.5 degrees on average. Monocular or macular splitting hemianopsia patients showed more visual field expansion than binocular macular sparing hemianopsia patients. The NEI-VFQ25 score increased significantly and abnormal head position decreased or disappeared after 1 month of using the prism. However, 47% of patients failed to adapt to the prism. CONCLUSIONS: Using Fresnel prism in homonymous hemianopsia patients effectively expands the visual field, corrects abnormal head position, and improves functional vision. However, to improve the success rate, for certain patients the proper choice of prism application method, prism diopters, and constant management are necessary.
Head ; Hemianopsia* ; Humans ; Prescriptions ; Telescopes ; Visual Field Tests ; Visual Fields*

One-hundred patients with low vison caused by various ophthalmic pathologies were evaluated retrospectively. Ophtic atrophy was the most common etiology for low vision. For the low vision patients, hand-help magnifiers, stand magnifiers, telecopes and spectacle-mounted magnifiers were used as optical low vision aid(LVA)s. Typoscopes, visors, absorptive lenses, reading stands were used as non-optical LVAs. Closed circuit television was used as an electrical LVA. Majority of patients(82%) benefited from being prescribed low vision aids Therefore, it was suggested that all patients having low vision should receive a low vision assessment.
Atrophy ; Humans ; Pathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Television ; Vision, Low*

Complications of mitomycin C soaking method during pterygium surgery and its effect on recurrence rate were compared with postoperative use of topical mitomycin C. Sixty three patients(seventy three eyes) with primary pterygium received surgery with the bared sclera method. Thirty nine eyes randomly chosen were treated with cotton applicator soaked with 0.2mg/ml mitomycin C for 5 minutes after the excision of pterygium(soaking group). Thirty four eyes underwent the same surgical procedure and received topical 0.2mg/ml mitomycin C postoperatively, twice a day for five days(eye drop group). During the mean follow-up period of 13 months, recurrence rate was 15.4%(6 eyes) in soaking group and 20.6%(7 eyes) in eye drop group respectively. This difference was not statistically significant(p>0.5). There were no specific complications related to mitomycin C treatment in both groups during the follow-up periods. The soaking method of 0.2mg/ml mitomycin C was found as effective and safe as postoperative use of topical 0.2mg/ml mitomycin C for prevention of the recurrence of primary pterygium.
Follow-Up Studies ; Mitomycin* ; Pterygium* ; Recurrence ; Sclera

To investigate the drug effect of topical Mitomycin C in various concentrations combined with steroid, we used 30 rabbits whose corneal epitheliums were abraded intentionally. They were divided into 5 groups. Using MMC in various concentrations and steroids, we instilled them into right eyes and saline into left eyes as control. We measured the healing rate at a interval of 12 hours. Three months later, we sacrificed one of them and examined the pathological changes from various ocular tissues. We found many complications such as corneal edema, ulcer, opacity and definite delay of wound healing when the concentration higher than 0.04%MMC was used. There were also decreased fibroblast cells in H-E staining. The steroids seemed not to pose any influence on the effect of MMC. In conclusion, we must take the great care in the use of MMC, and the concentration should be low when used. In addition, we still think there ought to be more studies as to the effect of steroids according to MMC levels.
Cornea* ; Corneal Edema ; Epithelium, Corneal ; Fibroblasts ; Intention ; Mitomycin* ; Ophthalmic Solutions* ; Rabbits ; Steroids ; Ulcer ; Wound Healing