Association of Trifluorothymidine and Débridement in Herpetic Dendritic Keratitis

To the Editor.  —We read with great interest the article by Parlato et al¹ in the May issue of the Archives. We have just completed a similar study combining blunt spatula débridement and trifluorothymidine in the treatment of dendritic keratitis. We agree with the authors' conclusion that débridement alone is unsatisfactory when compared with one of the newer, more efficient antiviral agents, such as trifluorothymidine. However, concerning the association of débridement with trifluorothymidine drops, we come to completely opposing conclusions. Our methodology was slightly different, and we think that this difference is of utmost importance.We have been treating 22 patients with dendritic herpetic keratitis, proved by viral isolation, immunoperoxidase diagnosis, or both, with combined blunt spatula débridement and trifluorothymidine drops eight times on the first day and five times daily thereafter. The antiviral drops were administered by the examiner immediately after débridement. No antibiotic drops were administered. Patching