Abstract

A controlled trial of oral acyclovir in herpetic dendritic corneal ulcers was carried out on 31 patients. All patients received minimal wiping debridement of the ulcer, following which they were randomly allocated to receive either oral acyclovir or placebo for 7 days. At the end of treatment 67% of dendritic ulcers in patients receiving acyclovir had healed compared with 43% in placebo recipients. The proportion of ulcers healed in the 2 groups at 7 days showed no significant difference (p = 0.18), but the rate of healing was significantly faster in acyclovir group (p = 0.03).