Frequent ocular findings in patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis

Background: Allergic etiology is suspected whenever a patientwith conjunctivitis presents the typical clinical features; however, in ophthalmic practice, confirmation of immune disease is uncommon. Ocular involvement is common in allergic rhinitis, and the current name of this entity is allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (ARC). Conjunctivitis diagnosis in ARC is inferred by the symptoms, but the most common ocular findings in patients with a confirmed allergic disease are unknown. In this study, the most common findings in allergic patients with ocular involvement were identified. Methods: A previous segment of patients with an ARC diagnosis offered by an immunologist were evaluated, and the rates of the most common (whether considered related to allergy or not) were determined; 95% confidence intervals (CI) for rates were calculated. Results: One hundred and nineteen patients were evaluated, and the most common finding was conjunctival fornix edema (89.7%, 95% CI 83.5-94.7), followed by tarsal papillae (70.6%, 95% CI 62.4-78.8); the most common non-allergy-related finding was tear film deficiency (52.9%, 95% CI 43.9-61.9). Conclusions: Conjunctival fornix edema was consistently more frequent than most of the signs used to diagnose allergic conjunctivitis in medical journals. It is suggested to intentionally look for this as recommended, in order to more easily make a diagnosis.