[Animal experiment and clinical studies of the use of anti-inflammatory agents in chemical burns of the eye].

In animal experiments and a clinical study of chemically burned eyes the anti-inflammatory effect of topically applied steroids and indomethacin (an inhibitor of cyclooxygenase) was investigated. Both the animal model and the clinical tests indicate the desirability of immediate local application of dexamethasone eyedrops 0.1% under careful biomicroscopic control of the burned eye and with local antibiotics. The use of topical steroids is a part of the authors' treatment for moderately severe and severe chemical eye burns (second degree, beginning third degree). However, this anti-inflammatory therapy cannot be recommended with indomethacin alone, because of the leukotriene-induced, increased infiltration of polymorphonuclear neutrophils and corneal ulceration.