[Antiviral agents and cicatrization of the corneal stroma]

Infection of the cornea due to herpes simplex virus continues to be a problem for ophthalmologists despite treatment of the disease with antiviral drugs. These drugs are known to produce some toxic effects and prolonged administration is sometimes necessary. Using tensile strength measurements to assess tissue repair, healing of a 5 mm perforating corneal stromal incision was measured after treatment with different antiviral drugs four times a day for eighteen postoperative days. Results suggest that 3% adenine arabinoside, 3% acycloguanosine, 1% trifluorothymidine, and 1% iododesoxycytidine ointments do not delay (p greater than 0.05) normal stromal healing.