Subconjunctival corticosteroid injection for the treatment of non-necrotising anterior scleritis
- Laboratory of Immunology, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Correspondence to: H Nida Sen MD, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bldg 10, Room 10N112, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; nidamdyahoo.com
- Accepted 1 November 2004
Scleritis commonly is a recurrent disease that requires long term immunosuppressive treatment that can be associated with significant adverse effects.1 Although topical and periorbital steroids are accepted therapeutic options for treatment of scleritis, subconjunctival administration of depot corticosteroids has been considered unsafe owing to the risk of scleral thinning and perforation.2–4 Recently, this has been challenged by reports describing the safe and effective use of subconjunctival depot steroid injections in patients with non-necrotising scleritis.5–7 Based on these reports we reviewed our experience using subconjunctival corticosteroid injections (SCI) in the management of non-infectious, non-necrotising anterior scleritis.
Case reports
A retrospective, non-comparative review of the clinical records of patients with scleritis evaluated at the National Eye Institute was performed and four patients treated with SCI were identified. Subconjunctival triamcinolone acetonide (Kenalog 40 mg/ml, Westwood Squibb Pharmaceuticals, Buffalo, NY, USA) (2–12 mg per injection) was given …
