Eye

Conjunctiva

Conjunctivitis

Chronic conjunctivitis



Last author update: 1 October 2014
Last staff update: 22 December 2020

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PubMed Search: Chronic Conjunctivitis [title]

Deepali Jain, M.D.
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Cite this page: Jain D. Chronic conjunctivitis. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/eyechronicconj.html. Accessed March 29th, 2024.
Pathophysiology
  • Conjunctivitis that persists for 4+ weeks
Etiology
Clinical features
  • Insidious onset; slow progression of ocular discomfort, conjunctival injection, discharge
Diagnosis
Case reports
Treatment
  • Antibiotics, artificial tears, topical medications
Clinical images

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Cause unspecified

Microscopic (histologic) description
  • Two basic Patterns:
    • Chronic follicular conjunctivitis (associated with cosmetics, infectious mononucleosis, molluscum contagiosum, moraxella, phthiriasis palpebrarum, psittacosis, topical medications, trachoma)
    • Chronic papillary conjunctivitis (tarsal conjunctiva)
  • Numerous goblet cells and papillary folds
  • Chronic inflammatory cells (lymphoid follicles and plasma cells)
  • Isolated islands of epithelium may form retention cysts that calcify
  • Late changes are epithelial atrophy, keratinization and stromal scarring
  • Note that lymphocytes are common within normal conjunctiva
Cytology description
Molecular / cytogenetics description
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