[Topical cyclosporine as an alternative treatment for herpetic interstitial keratitis].

81 Topical cyclosporine as an alternative treatment for herpetic interstitial keratitis Ciclosporina tópica como alternativa eficaz en el tratamiento de las queratitis intersticiales herpéticas Dear Sir, Infection due to herpes simplex virus (HSV), also known as human herpes virus (HHV), continues to be the most frequent cause of corneal blindness in developed countries, where the prevalence rate is between 20.7 and 31.5 episodes for each 100,000 inhabitants per year. 1 Stromal disease caused by HSV can present in necrosing or non-necrosing form. It is believed that non-necrosing stromal keratitis, the subject of this letter, constitutes an immune process which presents as interstitial or disc-shaped keratitis. Chronic or recurring inflammation can lead to loss of vision due to neovascularization, deposit of lipids, fibrosis and corneal thinning. In interstitial keratitis the inflammatory