Syphilis: congenital interstitial keratitis

Contributor: William Charles Caccamise, Sr, MD, Retired Clinical Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

*Dr. Caccamise has very generously shared his images of patients taken while operating during the "eye season" in rural India as well as those from his private practice during the 1960's and 1970's. Many of his images are significant for their historical perspective and for techniques and conditions seen in settings in undeveloped areas.

Category: Cornea

It is unusual for the interstial keratitis that occurs in a congenital luetic to appear before the age of 5 years. This patient was 20 years-old at the time of the photo and had been aware of eye problems for a number of years.

The patient had bilateral interstitial keratitis due to her congenital syphilis.

This is a computer adjusted version of photo (below) to make the corneal lesion more apparent.

the original photo

Ophthalmic Atlas Images by EyeRounds.org, The University of Iowa are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.