Exposure keratopathy. Preventing the potentially serious sequelae of exposure keratopathy is critical in caring for patients with facial palsies. Exposure keratopathy leads to epithelial breakdown with corneal erosion and the potential for corneal ulceration, corneal perforation, and endophthalmitis. A) Chronic exposure keratopathy in a patient with a chronic facial nerve palsy has resulted in scarring of the inferior cornea. B) In a different patient, exposure keratopathy progressed to a corneal ulcer with hypopyon. The patient's blind, painful eye subsequently required enucleation.
Source: Martin TJ, Corbett JJ. Practical Neuroophthalmology; 2013.
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