A Case of Keratoconjunctivitis Induced by Dieffenbachia Plant Sap

Sung Hyup Lim; Si Joung Kim; Sung Wook Yoon

doi:10.3341/jkos.2009.50.12.1877

Journal List > J Korean Ophthalmol Soc > v.50(12) > 1008454

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Lim, Kim, and Yoon: A Case of Keratoconjunctivitis Induced by Dieffenbachia Plant Sap

Original Article

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2009;50(12):1877-1880.

Published online: 7 September 2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2009.50.12.1877

A Case of Keratoconjunctivitis Induced by Dieffenbachia Plant Sap

Sung Hyup Lim, MD, Si Joung Kim, MD, Sung Wook Yoon, MD

Department of Ophthalmology, Dongkang General Hospital, Ulsan, Korea

Address reprint requests to Sung Wook Yoon, MD, Department of Ophthalmology, Dongkang General Hospital #123-3 Taehwa-dong, Jung-gu, Ulsan 681-711, Korea Tel: 82-52-241-1332, Fax: 82-52-241-1331, E-mail: medi94@naver.com

Received 6 July 2009 Accepted 1 September 2009

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

To report a case of keratoconjunctivitis induced by Dieffenbachia plant sap.

Case summary

A 44-year-old woman presented with severe ocular pain and decreased visual acuity which developed after she accidentally got Dieffenbachia plant sap in her left eye. During her initial evaluation, visual acuity was 0.4 in her left eye. On slit lamp examination, we found that she had moderate injection of the conjunctiva, an epithelial defect, and fine needle-like blue crystals in the stromal layer of the cornea. The patient was treated with topical steroids and antibiotics. We checked the treatment response using a regular slit lamp examination. Six days after the injury, all of the findings which were observed on the first day had resolved except the needle-like blue crystals in the stromal layer of the cornea. These gradually disappeared from the cornea 11 days after the accident. After six weeks, the crystals in the stromal layer had completely resolved. She maintained good visual acuity during this time. There was no opacity noted in her cornea.

Conclusions

We experienced a case of keratoconjunctivitis induced by Dieffenbachia plant sap. This sap caused severe ocular pain and a reversible decrease in visual acuity when in contact with the eye.

Keywords: Dieffenbachia plant sap, Keratoconjunctivitis, Needle-like blue crystals

References

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Figure 1.

A: Diffenbachia amoena ‘Marianne' B: Diffenbachia plant sap (red arrow)

Figure 2.

A: Needle-like crystals in the corneal stroma (At arrival) B: Needle-like crystals (red arrows) (At arrival, Pentacam view)

Figure 3.

A, B: 6 weeks after the injury (spontaneous resolution of crystals)

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