Ocular Manifestations in Atopic Dermatitis Patients and their relation to disease severity

Abstract

Background: Atopic dermatitis is a common chronic relapsing skin disease that affects all ages and both sexes, ocular manifestations appear in patients with atopic dermatitis like cataract, blepharitis, keratoconjunctivitis and corneal ulcers and some of these changes are related to disease severity which is measured by many measures including SCORAD index which means scoring atopic dermatitis. Objectives: To evaluate the ocular manifestations in Iraqi patients with atopic dermatitis and to see the relationship between these manifestations and the severity of atopic dermatitis.Patients and Methods: One hundred forty six patients were included in this study, Eighty (54.8%) of them were females and 66 (45.2%) were males with ages between 3 months and 46 years and a mean age of 18.2 ± 8.4 years. The study was conducted from January 2005 till January 2007 in the Department of Dermatology of Al-Kadhymia teaching hospital in Baghdad. Full history, examination including dermatological as well as ophthalmological examinations was done for all patients and SCORAD index was measured for all patients. Results: Ninety four (64.4%) of all patients had ocular manifestations and some of them had more than one manifestation, the commonest manifestations in those 94 patients were blepharitis in 58 (61.7%) patients, followed by keratoconjunctivitis in 22 (23.4%) patients then allergic conjunctivitis in 16 (17%) patients. The ocular manifestations in general were not related to chronicity, age and disease severity except cataract and retinal detachment. Conclusion: Ocular manifestations seem to be common in Iraqi patients with atopic dermatitis including blepharitis, different types of conjunctivitis, corneal ulcers and many other manifestations and these complications (apart from cataract and retinal detachment) were unrelated to chronicity, age and disease severity. Keywords: Atopic Dermatitis, Ocular, Severity