To evaluate clinical and treatment outcomes in patients with peripheral ulcerative keratitis (PUK).

Retrospective, case series

Patients diagnosed with PUK at the Wilmer Eye Institute between January 2003 and October 2022.

Data collected included demographics, presence of systemic disease, disease laterality, duration of disease, PUK activity, presence of corneal perforation, and treatments. Outcomes of interest included: disease control, corticosteroid-sparing success, corticosteroid-discontinuation success, sustained drug-free remission, disease reactivation, occurrence of perforation, and need for surgery.

Fifty-seven patients with PUK were identified. The median age was 53 years, with 46% of patients being Black. Most patients (56%) had an associated systemic diagnosis. The median duration of symptoms prior to presentation was 3 months and 42% of patients presented with bilateral disease. Of the 81 affected eyes, 7 had perforated prior to presentation. During a median follow-up of 3 years, 76% of patients received oral prednisone and 80% received at least 1 immunosuppressive drug. Disease control was achieved in all patients within a median of 1.3 months. The rates of corticosteroid-sparing success and corticosteroid discontinuation were 0.44 per patient-year (/PY) and 0.27/PY, respectively. Sustained drug-free remission was achieved in only 6% of patients. During follow-up, the rate of corneal perforation was 0.009/EY. The rate of disease reactivation was 0.07/EY, with a median time to reactivation of ∼2 years.

Over a moderate amount of follow-up, systemic therapy achieved disease control, corticosteroid-sparing and corticosteroid discontinuation. However, sustained drug-free remission was infrequent in our cohort.