Topical Ciprofloxacin for Bacterial Corneal Ulcer
PANIDA KOSRIRUKVONGS, M.D.*, WIPAWEE BURANAPONGS, M.D.*
Affiliation : * Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700. Thailand.
Objective : To assess topical ciprofloxacin in patients with moderate severity of sus-
pected bacterial corneal ulcers.
Study design : Randomized, controlled clinical trial.
Setting : Inpatient at Siriraj Hospital.
Participants : All patients with suspected corneal ulcers. Patients with fungal cause
known before admission and an allergy to any medication, were excluded.
Intervention : Topical ciprofloxacin 0.3 per cent or cefazolin (50 mg/ml) and fortified
gentamicin (14 mg/ml) were given every 15 minutes for the first 6 hours, then every half hour on
the first day, and every hour while awake till midnight until complete recovery without staining
of fluorescein and no culture growth.
Main outcome measures : The primary outcomes were the success rate and duration
of the healing of the ulcer after treatment in each group.
Results : Forty-one patients were enrolled. Twelve (70.6%) of 17 patients in the cipro-
floxacin group were therapeutically successful while 15 (62.5%) of 24 patients in the control
group showed similar outcome without a statistically significant difference. However, the mean
duration for healing after treatment was not significantly different being 14.6 days in the control
group and 15.6 days in the ciprofloxacin group. Visual improvement in the success cases of the
control and ciprofloxacin groups was 46.7 per cent, and 66.7 per cent, respectively.
Conclusion : Treatment with topical ciprofloxacin in suspected bacterial corneal ulcer
should be considered as an alternative to standard therapy.
Keywords : Bacterial Corneal Ulcer, Topical Ciprofloxacin
