Studies on the treatment of keratoconjunctivitis sicca.

Fifteen cases of keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) of unknown etiology were treated with soft contact lenses for the purpose of their bandage effects and moisuture supply. A soft contact lens was worn on one of the eyes of each case but not on the other to compare its effectiveness. New opthalmic drops or contact lens wearers were dropped in both eyes. Furthermore, the KCS-index was worked out on the basis of the complaints of 23 patients of KCS of unknouwn etiology. The indexes before and after treatment were compared. Corneal objective findings were improved in all the eyes wearing soft contact lensen for along period, and seven stopped wearing them although corneal objective findings were much better, because they had some troubles with handlings were much better, because they had some troubles with handling the lenses, because they had lost rhem, or because their visual acuity decreased while wearing the lenses. Forlong term wearing the flattest lenses should be used in the beginning and changed gradually to lenses of greater curvature which are better able to keep their centering. Then immediately after successful fitting, the lenses should be given appropriate refractive power. The new ophthalmic drops for soft contact lens wearers were very much effective as artificial tears to both eyes with and without sofy contact lenses. KCS-indexes were numerical values relating to patients subjective symptoms. KSC-indexes improves by an average of +6.4±7.5 after treatment. On the other hand, KCS-indexes improved by +10.7±7.9 in the group that succeeded in wearing SCL for a long period, and by +7.6±2.1 even in the group that failed.