Effects of urea treatment in malignancies of the conjunctiva and cornea.

A series of 9 patients with extensive squamous cell carcinomas of the conjunctiva, affecting also the cornea in 5 of them, were treated with local applications of urea. 8 out of these patients were cured. In 1 patient with a concomitant extensive conjunctivitis, the treatment was ineffective. Urea treatment is very simple and without any complications, apart from a transient opacity of the cornea. Recurrences are easily and effectively retreated as in 1 of 2 of our cases. But if the eyeball has been destroyed, as in the second case, retreatment is impossible. At least 5 out of the treated patients would have had an enucleation of the globe or an exenteration of the orbit without the urea treatment.