In ophthalmology, as in other fields of medicine, fungus infections have become increasingly important since the advent of antibiotic and steroid therapy. Mucormycosis is a fungus disease caused by normally saprophytic organisms that become pathogenic under special circumstances. Clinically, mucormycotic infections may be classified into chronic and acute (or subacute) types. The chronic type of infection usually occurs as a localized disease process in an otherwise healthy individual, e.g., mucor dermatitis, mucor paronychia, mucor external otitis, etc. These are usually indolent infections and offer no threat to life. Only 3 cases of ocular mucormycosis which could properly be classified as chronic in type have been reported. Two of these were cases of keratomycosis, and one of these resulted from topical antibiotic and steroid therapy for a corneal abrasion.9,10,41 The third was a case of mucormycosis of the retina presenting clinically as Coat's disease in a healthy youngster.42
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