Use of collagen corneal shields in the treatment of bacterial keratitis.

We used an animal model of Pseudomonas keratitis to compare treatment by topical tobramycin with and without the presence of a commercially available collagen corneal shield. Pilot studies showed a significant, 30-fold increase in penetration of tobramycin into the anterior chamber in eyes with a collagen shield in place. Twenty albino rabbit eyes were inoculated with P. aeruginosa to produce stromal keratitis. After 12 hours of topical tobramycin dosing, eyes with a collagen corneal shield in place had a statistically significant (P less than .01) decrease in colony forming unit counts in comparison to treated eyes without a shield and control eyes.