Microbial Flora of The Conjunctival Sac in Prosthesis Wearers.

Lew, Helen; Lee, Sang Yeul; Kim, Hong Bok

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 1995;36(6):938-943.
Published online June 1, 1995.

Microbial Flora of The Conjunctival Sac in Prosthesis Wearers.

Helen Lew, Sang Yeul Lee, Hong Bok Kim

Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.

의안착용안의 결막낭 균총에 관한 연구

유혜린(He Len Lew),이상렬(Sang Yeul Lee),김홍복(Hong Bok Kim)

Abstract

Persistent physical stimulation and foreign body contact in prosthesis wearers may develop secondary infection, frequent conjunctival injection and responses such as giant papillary conjunctivitis. In 77 patients wearing prostheses, the bilateral conjunctival flora was studied and compared with the expect of conjunctival floral change. The predominent organisms were essentially the same in both sides: Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus followed by streptococcus. The incidence of bacterial isolation on the anophthalmic side (67.5%) was significantly higher than on the healthy side (32.5%). Especially the incidence of potential pathogenic bacterial isolation(Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus, Gram negative bacilli)(27.9%) was significantly higher on the anophthalmic side than on the healthy side(6.5%). The conjunctival smear study showed the higher incidence of polymorpho nucleoleukocyte and bacteria on the anophthalmic side. The isolation rates of the moderate to marked responded conjunctiva(46.9%) was lower than on the mild responded conjunctiva(69.2%) . The wearing time of the prostheses, the frequency of cleaning of prostheses, type of cleaner and topical drops used did not effect the incidence of bacterial isolation of conjunctival sac. Therfore these results showed that persistent physical stimulation and foreign body contact with prosthesis wearing may alter the microbial flora of the conjunctival sac.

Key Words: Bacterial flora;Conjunctival sac;Prosthesis