title: Clinical Spectrum and Treatment Approaches in Corneal Burns.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the clinical findings, treatment modalities and long-term prognosis of chemical and thermal burns of the cornea.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one patients (27 eyes) who were followed at two centers for corneal chemical and thermal burns between 2001 and 2013 were included. Eyes were grouped into four grades according to the severity of burn using Roper-Hall classification. Age, gender, type of burn, follow-up duration, corrected visual acuity before and after treatment, treatment modalities and complications were recorded. Patients received medical treatment or combined surgical treatment including amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT), conjunctivolimbal autograft/allograft (CLAU/CLAL) transplantation, keratolimbal allograft (KLAL) or penetrating keratoplasty (PKP).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients had a mean age of 27.1±15.5 years (range, 6 months-56 years) and were followed for a mean 63.2±58.6 weeks (4-160 weeks). Significant improvement was achieved with medical treatment alone in patients with grade I (4 eyes) and 2 burns (8 eyes). Patients with grade III burns (11 eyes) underwent CLAU (6 eyes), combined AMT/CLAU (3 eyes), AMT/CLAL (1 eye), or CLAL+PKP (1 eye), while patients with grade IV burns (4 eyes) had keratectomy+CLAL/AMT (1 eye), keratectomy+CLAL+PKP after recurrence with CLAU/AMT (1 eye), CLAU+PKP (1 eye), and AMT/KLAL+PKP (1 eye). All patients except the latter showed ocular surface stabilization with these procedures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ocular burns cause severe impairment of the ocular surface. It is possible to achieve good results with appropriate medical treatment and surgeries including ocular surface reconstruction.
authors: İstanbul Training and Research Hospital, Clinic of Ophthalmology, İstanbul, Turkey.
authors: İlkay
authors: İ
authors: Kılıç Müftüoğlu
authors: Bayındır Hospital, Clinic of Ophthalmology, Ankara, Turkey.
authors: Yonca
authors: Y
authors: Aydın Akova
authors: Dünya Eye Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors: Altuğ
authors: A
authors: Çetinkaya
keywords: Ocular surface; alkali burn; medical treatment; surgical treatment