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

Recently we have experienced 3 cases of IOL dislocations. There are 2 cases of PCL and a case of iridocapsular lens. In case 1 and 2, they received ECCE and PCL implantations and had managed well good visual acuity before the dislocation of the IOL had occurred. In case 1, he gained good vision by replacing with ACL but in case 2, he lost his vision due to secondary glaucoma with optic nerve atrophy which did not seem to be related directly with PCL dislocation. In case 3, the patient had received iridocapsular lens implantation 7 years ago and had three times of episodes of subluxation of his IOL. Last September he had another episode of subluxation of IOL loop inferiorly. The medical therapy of the reposition of IOL was failed and IOL was removed and replaced by ACL. Now he lost his vision due to bullous keratopathy as a result of repeated episodes of endothelial touch. The three cases of this report remind us that the patient can restore good vision if he or she visit to the ophthalmologist as immediately as possible when the blurred vision has developed as prodromal symptom of dislocation of IOL.
Atrophy ; Dislocations* ; Glaucoma ; Humans ; Lenses, Intraocular* ; Optic Nerve ; Prodromal Symptoms ; Visual Acuity

It has been reported that 2.5% povidone-iodine solution was an effective antimicrobial agent on the conjunctivae of newborns and caused less toxicity than silver nitrate eye drops. The effectiveness and the safety of 1% povidoneiodine solution, a lower concentration solution, were evaluated on ophthalmia neonatorum prophylaxis. A bacterial culture was taken from each conjunctiva of 70 neonates within 30 minutes after birth. A drop of each of the two agents, which were randomly chosen among 1% povidone-iodine solution, 2.5% povidone-iodine solution. and 1% silver nitrate eye drops, was placed on each conjunctiva. Conjunctival bacterial cultures were again taken two to four hours after birth. Before the first culture and at 24 hours after birth, the eyes were examined for toxic changes. To evaluate the effectiveness of the medications, the numbers of bacterial species and colonyforming units from each culture were compared. All three agents significantly reduced the numbers of species and colonyforming units(p<0.02). Two povidone-iodine solutions did not show significant ocular toxicity(p>0.7) but silver nitrate eye drop did(p<0.02). Therefore, it was found that 1% povidone-iodine solution as well as 2.5% povidone-iodine solution are effective antibacterial agents on the conjunctivae of newborns and cause less toxicity than silver nitrate eye drops.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Conjunctiva ; Endophthalmitis* ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Ophthalmia Neonatorum* ; Ophthalmic Solutions ; Parturition ; Povidone-Iodine* ; Silver Nitrate

Phthisis bulbi, resulting from repeated ocular inflammation and infection or ocular trauma, causes various degeneration of ocular tissue as well as changes in ocular external shape. It shows the impression of scleral thickening with calcification of ocular tissue and an unusual ossification as well. Having observed 31-year-old patients of phthisis bulbi and band keratopathy caused by repeated operation after ocular trauma years ago, we extracted the tan brown colored shell-like firm tissue in posterior segment and report sclerotic impression of some of ocular tissue and histopathologic finding of the typical ossificationof ocular tissue during the course evisceration.
Adult ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Triacetoneamine-N-Oxyl

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*

We conducted a retrospective study of 20 penetrating keratoplasty (19patients) for corneal opacity due to herpes simplex keratitis from January 1992 to February 1997 at National Medical Center. We exaniined f requeuey of graft rejection and recurrence of herpetic keratitis after penetrating keratoplasty. The patients were grouped into control & treatinent, group according to the use of antivirial drug after penetrating keratoplasty and we examined the difference in rate of recurrence between two groups. The follow-up period was from 8 months to 68 months, mean follow-up period being 29.6 months. Graft rejection was seen in 3 eyes out of 20 eyes (15.0%) and recurrence was developed 3 eyes out of 20 eyes (15.0%). Recurrent herpetic keratitis developed in 15.4%(2 of 13) of the eyes in control group and 14.3% (1 of 7) of the eyes in treatment group. There was no statistically significant difference in recurrence rate between two groups (p)0.05). Postoperative prophylactic antiviral treatment is not associated with decreased rate of herpes simplex keratitis recurrence.
Corneal Opacity ; Follow-Up Studies ; Graft Rejection ; Herpes Simplex* ; Humans ; Keratitis, Herpetic* ; Keratoplasty, Penetrating* ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies