Clinical presentation and outcomes of Mooren's ulcer: a 2-year retrospective cohort study

Background: Mooren's ulcer is a chronic, painful, unrelenting, peripheral ulcerative keratitis with atypical geographic presentation and distribution. This study aimed to retrospectively investigate the clinical presentation and outcomes of patients with Mooren's ulcer over a 2-year period at the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Eye Hospital, Kano, Nigeria. Methods: The theatre records of 24 patients with Mooren's ulcer were retrospectively reviewed, with a focus on those who had up to 2 years of follow-up. The surgical treatment followed a standard procedure of 3 ml of 2% xylocaine and 0.01% adrenaline were administered for peribulbar anaesthesia. The periorbital area was cleaned with 10% povidone iodine, draped, and a lid speculum was inserted to part the lids. The conjunctiva was excised 2 mm from the edge of the ulcer, and the area was lightly cauterized. This was followed by a combination of subconjunctival injection of 2 mg of dexamethasone and 20 mg of gentamycin and a drop of 0.3% of ciprofloxacin and 1% of atropine. Data were analyzed using a social science statistical package (IBM SPSS Inc. Chicago V 19.0) with 95% confidence. Results: The results revealed that Mooren's ulcer was predominant in an age range of 11 and 30 years. A total number of 24 patients were seen in the two years of review, with an average age of 27.3±13.7 years. There were 19 male and 5 female patients, with a male-to-female ratio of 3.8:1. At presentation, patients had poor preoperative vision, with acuity values of less than 6/60–3/60 range. Postoperatively, 15 eyes had a borderline outcome (cannot see 6/18 but can see 6/60), 12 eyes had good vision (VA 6/18) and 4 eyes ended up with the same presenting vision (VA<6/60) after treatment. One patient had iris prolapse and three patients had evisceration. Conclusions: This study provided the clinical characteristics of patients with Mooren's corneal ulcer. A comparison of preoperative and postoperative visual acuity showed that early presentation and intervention improved visual outcomes. Although most eyes maintained or improved vision, nearly half demonstrated a borderline result that fell short of the target vision threshold. The retrospective nature of this study limited its ability to review complete patient information. The small sample size also constrained the analysis due to the low incidence of Mooren's ulcer. Further research is needed to better understand increased susceptibility in younger populations. This will help inform prevention and treatment efforts to address this public health challenge.