Clinical Presentation of Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis (VKC): A Hospital Based Study

OBJECTIVE: To determine the various clinical manifestations of Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) in Civil Hospital Karachi. DESIGN: Descriptive. METHOD: This is a hospital based study that was conducted at the Eye Department of Civil Hospital Karachi among the patients attending hospital out patients. Patients presenting with signs and symptoms of VKC were clinically evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 400 patients was examined. Two-hundred seventy-eight patients (69.5%) came in the first decade of life. Three-hundred and sixty-eight patients (92%) were males. One-hundred and twenty-eight patients (32%) had family history of atopy. Study showed that palpebral VKC was the most common clinical form present in 216 patients (54%), followed by mixed VKC in 104 patients (26%) and limbal VKC in 80 patients (20%). The symptoms and signs of the disease were present all around the year in 86% of patients with an increase in the summer. CONCLUSION: VKC is an allergic disorder affecting the children, more common in males than females. The onset of disease is usually after the age of 5 years. It resolves around puberty, rarely after the age of 30 years. Out of the three types, Palpebral VKC was the most common form.