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SAMJ: South African Medical Journal
On-line version ISSN 2078-5135
Print version ISSN 0256-9574
Abstract
DU TOIT, Nagib and VAN DER MERWE, Junet. Herpetic ulcer of the eyelids in an immunocompromised patient. SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. [online]. 2012, vol.102, n.6, pp.472-473. ISSN 2078-5135.
A 24-year-old black female (HIV-positive) was referred to our clinic with a 4-week history of an ulcerative lesion of the right upper and lower eyelids. She was on treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis and had been admitted to a secondary level hospital. She had no other ocular symptoms or signs. A tissue biopsy of the lesion revealed multinucleate squamous cells with ground glass viral nuclear inclusion bodies, indicative of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection. The ulcer healed with oral and topical acyclovir therapy, confirming a herpetic origin. There is only one other reported case of this type of ulcerative eyelid lesion caused by HSV; the patient in this case was also immunocompromised.