Utilizing hardware culture in a case of atypical keratitis

This case report describes the diagnosis and management of a 22-year-old male soft contact lens wearer, who presented with an atypical corneal ulcer in the right eye. The patient presented with a one-day history of significant eye pain, photophobia, and multiple pseudodendritic lesions on the cornea with stromal infiltrate; the differential remained broad. The management was guided by the culture of hardware of the patient's contact lenses, which grew aspergillus only in the affected contact. In cases where corneal culture is negative, multiple organisms have been isolated from the corneal culture, or in cases where there is no response to medical treatment, culture of hardware may be a useful methodology for isolating the offending microbe in infectious corneal ulcers.