Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about herpes carotitis.

And if you want to follow along with written notes on this topic, as always, you can follow

along at zero to finals.com slash herpes keratitis or in the ophthalmology section of the zero

de finals medicine book. So let's get straight into it.

keratitis refers to inflammation of the cornea. And there's a number of causes of keratitis.

It can be viral infection with herpesymplex,

bacterial infection with pseudomonas or staphylococcus bacteria,

fungal infection with candida or aspergillus. There's also a condition called

contact lens acute red eye which is known as Claire C-L-A-R-E.

And finally, exposure keratitis, which is caused by inadequate coverage of the eye with the eyelid.

So because the eye is exposed to the air without being properly covered by the eyelid,

inflammation and ulceration develop, which is called

exposure keratitis. This can happen in conditions like eyelid ectropion. We're going to focus

on herpes simplex infection here, as this is the most common cause of keratitis. And this is called

herpes simplex keratitis. It can cause inflammation

in any part of the eye, however it most commonly affects the epithelial layer of the cornea. Herpes

simplex keratitis can be primary, meaning the first time the infection has occurred, or recurrent,

meaning the infection has come back after a previous

infection. Herpes carotitis usually affects only the epithelial layer of the cornea or the very

surface layer. If the inflammation is of the stroma, which is the layer between the epithelium

and the endothelium, this is called stromal keratitis.

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