ABSTRACT
According to the World Health Organization, corneal pathologies are the second most important causes of unilateral loss of vision worldwide and are especially important in developing countries (Whitcher et al. 2001). As the number of cases of some infectious diseases such as trachoma and onchocerciasis is seeing a gradual decline due to successful public health initiatives, corneal ulcerations relatively growing as part of the causes of corneal blindness and it is estimated that it may affect more than two million people annually around the world (Whitcher et al. 2001). Although it is likely that the estimates are under reported, Gupta et al. estimated an annual incidence of corneal ulceration of 1.5–2 million people in India (Gupta et al. 2013), while in the United States the rates reported by Jeng (2010) were of 27.6 per 100.000 people per year. Corneal ulceration has a highly diverse epidemiology in different geographical areas, but undoubtedly it is a challenging condition that can lead in many cases to permanent visual dysfunction, monocular blindness, corneal perforation or even loss of the eye.
