| Summary: | INTRODUCTION: We aimed to to evaluate the demographics and clinical features of patients with vernal keratoconjunctivitis who have presented to our hospital which serves the hottest and the driest climate region in our country and also the severity of the disease.
METHODS: We retrospectively examined the examination findings of 143 patients diagnosed with vernal keratoconjunctivitis in the Bismil state hospital ophthalmology polyclinic between April 2018 and September 2018. RESULTS: Of the patients included in the study, 106 (74.1%) were male and 37 (25.9%) were female with a mean age of 8.7 +- 3.9 (3–21) years. The disease most frequently affected patients aged 6–10 years (59 patients, 41.2%). Mixed type (81 patients, 56.6%) was the most common type, followed by limbal type (34 patients, 23.8%) and palpaberal type (28 patients, 19.6%). The most common symptoms were itching (100%), redness (70.6%), photophobia (57.3%) and watering (48.9%). The most common clinical findings included conjunctival congestion (67.8%), upper palpebral papilla (65.2%) and limbal papilla (40.5%). Mild severe type most commonly affected males (50 patients, 47.2%), while moderate type (62.2%) was seen more frequently in females. Only 7 patients (4.8%) had an allergic family history. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Vernal keratoconjunctivitis is one of the main cause of ocular morbidity with different types of involvement and severity in our region especially in childhood. Hence, Patients with vernal keratoconjunctivitis should be monitored and treated during seasonal exacerbations to prevent possible complications of this disease especially in hot and dry areas such as our region.
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