It is not generally realized that so-called delayed infections of the eye following cataract extraction may be caused by fungi of low pathogenicity. Fungal infection, which is becoming an increasingly common complication of cataract extraction, is at present rarely diagnosed clinically. The infection is usually discovered after enucleation, and then only after the eye sections have been subjected to special fungus staining techniques and examination. The major reason for this is that ophthalmologists in general are neither aware of the importance, nor, in some instances, of the very existence of this entity.
The relatively benign and slow progression of fungal endophthalmitis resembles that of postoperative iridocyclitis of endogenous origin or low-grade bacterial infection. Treatment with antibiotics and steroids is usually instituted with both of these disorders. This often long-term therapy is not only ineffectual, but may actually promote the growth of the fungus and its extension throughout the vitreous. Most