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Extensive bilateral corneal edema 6 weeks after cataract surgery: Keratopathy due to Asclepias physocarpa: a case report
- Source :
- BMC Ophthalmology
- Publisher :
- Springer Nature
-
Abstract
- Background Surgeons may be unaware of the ability of plant toxins to cause corneal damage. Therefore, corneal damage following intraocular surgery due to plant toxins may be misdiagnosed as postoperative infection. Case presentation A 74-year-old man presented with hyperemia and reduced visual acuity in both eyes 6 weeks after uneventful cataract surgery. We observed extensive hyperemia and corneal stromal edema with Descemet’s folds in both eyes. After obtaining a detailed patient history, we diagnosed plant toxin-induced corneal edema due to Asclepias physocarpa, which can induce corneal edema by inhibiting the Na+/K+ ATPase activity of the corneal endothelium. Antimicrobial and steroid eye drops and an oral steroid were prescribed accordingly. Symptons began to improve on day 3 and had almost completely resolved by day 6. At 1 month, the patient had fully recovered without any sequelae. Conclusion The correct diagnosis was possible in the present case as symptoms were bilateral and the patient was able to report his potential exposure to plant toxins. However, if the symptoms had been unilateral and the patient had been unaware of these toxins, he may have undergone unnecessary surgical interventions to treat non-existent postoperative endophthalmitis.
- Subjects :
- Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Corneal endothelium
genetic structures
medicine.medical_treatment
Case Report
After cataract
Cataract Extraction
01 natural sciences
Cataract surgery
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Endophthalmitis
Corneal edema
Ophthalmology
medicine
Humans
Medical history
Asclepias
Corneal stromal edema
Aged
010405 organic chemistry
business.industry
Corneal Edema
Asclepias physocarpa
Gardening
General Medicine
medicine.disease
eye diseases
0104 chemical sciences
Surgery
030221 ophthalmology & optometry
sense organs
business
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14712415
- Volume :
- 17
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- BMC Ophthalmology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....b76ef146fd78d632e621ea3ec7ff3abe
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12886-017-0400-z