Paracoccidioidomycosis: study of six cases with ocular involvement

Abstract

We present 6 patients with ocular involvement due to paracoccidioidomycosis. All cases were confirmed by the finding of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis in histopathological or direct mycologic examination of material from the lesion in the eyelid or conjunctiva. In two cases the bulbar conjunctiva was also involved, in another the cornea, and still another patient developed endophthalmitis. The presence of this mutilating disease which may lead to blindness should be suspected when chronic blepharitis or palpebral ulcerated papular lesions are detected in patients from endemic areas of paracoccidioidomycosis. This etiology should also be suspected in patients with anterior and posterior uveitis after discarding the most frequent causes of this condition. © 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers.