Insulin eye drops for treating corneal ulcer in a non-diabetic patient: regarding a case

Abstract

Corneal ulcers are included in a heterogeneous group of eye injuries. When patients do not respond to treatment, including even corneal transplant, other alternatives need to be explored. We present a case of a patient who suffered an accidental spillage from the contents of a car battery. This corneal lesion was refractory to both surgical and pharmacological treatment. After four years of a persistent ulcer, insulin topical treatment 50 IU/mL was started. Improvement began to be observed and currently the patient has completely recovered the corneal epithelium. Nowadays, evidence of the topical insulin use for the treatment of corneal ulcers is higher in diabetic patients. In non-diabetic patients, evidence is restricted to a series of cases of neurotrophic corneal ulcers and a case report of a patient who presented a persistent epithelial defect after resection of a neurinoma. This case presents the experience of using an insulin drop formulation with effectiveness and absence of toxicity in a patient nondiabetic with a post-caustic corneal ulcer.

Keywords

• corneal ulcer
• insulin
• eye drops
• ophtalmic administration
• ophthalmology