[Treatment of corneal abrasion]

Forty patients with corneal epithelial defects were randomized into two groups. Group 1 (twenty patients) were treated with chloramphenicol ointment and an eye patch for six hours followed by chloramphenicol eyedrops six time a day for six days. Group 2 (twenty patients) were treated with chloramphenicol ointment and double eye patches for twenty-four hours as the only treatment. The patients were examined the next day, and again after a week. Two patients defected in group 1 and two patients from group 1 were excluded from the experiment because they failed to improve after three and four days, respectively. Five patients from group 2 defected. Corneal epithelial wound healing was found to be significantly faster in the group treated with double eye patches and the patients' subjective problems in this group were significantly less. (Significant with a probability less than 1%).