Symptomatic Treatment of Subepithelial Infiltrates after Viral Conjunctivitis: Loteprednol or Dexamethasone?

Purpose: To compare the efficiency and ocular side-effect profile of topical loteprednol applied to one eye and topical dexamethasone applied to the other eye in the early period on the same patient who has subepithelial infiltrates (SEI).Methods: The patients who developed bilateral SEI following epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC) were applied topical loteprednol on one eye (group 2) and topical dexamethasone on the other (group 1).Results: Decrease in the symptoms was faster in the dexamethasone group, but this difference between the groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.073). Both groups were found to have substantial recurrence. However, the difference between the groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.131).Conclusions: The study has found that in the treatment of SEI, which developed after EKC, statistically similar results can be obtained with loteprednol, which is known to have fewer adverse effects.