A Case of Keratoconjunctivitis Induced by Dieffenbachia Plant Sap.

Lim, Sung Hyup; Kim, Si Joung; Yoon, Sung Wook

doi:2009.50.12.1877

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc > Volume 50(12); 2009 > Article

Case Report

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 2009;50(12):1877-1880.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2009.50.12.1877 Published online December 15, 2009.

A Case of Keratoconjunctivitis Induced by Dieffenbachia Plant Sap.

Sung Hyup Lim, Si Joung Kim, Sung Wook Yoon

Department of Ophthalmology, Dongkang General Hospital, Ulsan, Korea. medi94@naver.com

디펜바키아의 수액에 의해 초래된 각결막염 1예

임성협ㆍ김시정ㆍ윤성욱

Department of Ophthalmology, Dongkang General Hospital, Ulsan, Korea

Abstract

PURPOSE
To report a case of keratoconjunctivitis induced by Dieffenbachia plant sap. CASE SUMMARY: A 44-year-old woman presented with severe ocular pain and decreased visual acuity which developed after she accidentally got Dieffenbachia plant sap in her left eye. During her initial evaluation, visual acuity was 0.4 in her left eye. On slit lamp examination, we found that she had moderate injection of the conjunctiva, an epithelial defect, and fine needle-like blue crystals in the stromal layer of the cornea. The patient was treated with topical steroids and antibiotics. We checked the treatment response using a regular slit lamp examination. Six days after the injury, all of the findings which were observed on the first day had resolved except the needle-like blue crystals in the stromal layer of the cornea. These gradually disappeared from the cornea 11 days after the accident. After six weeks, the crystals in the stromal layer had completely resolved. She maintained good visual acuity during this time. There was no opacity noted in her cornea. CONCLUSIONS: We experienced a case of keratoconjunctivitis induced by Dieffenbachia plant sap. This sap caused severe ocular pain and a reversible decrease in visual acuity when in contact with the eye.

Key Words: Dieffenbachia plant sap;Keratoconjunctivitis;Needle-like blue crystals