Blepharitis and Conjunctivitis. Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment

This handbook is the 5th educational publication carried out under the auspices and support of the International Ocular Inflammation Society (IOIS). As with the previous Guidelines, a panel of clinicians and scientists with expertise in external ocular diseases and inflammation was formed. This panel was given the task to compile a concise script on the available knowledge including also their personal respective experiences regarding two of the most common ocular inflammatory diseases: "Blepharitis" and "Conjunctivitis".

The guiding outline of the panel was to compile practical and concise referenced texts with an appeal to clinicians and clinical scientists worldwide and applicable to developed as well as developing countries.

These Guidelines also aim at helping (and guiding) the practicing ophthalmologist to recognize the important symptoms and signs of specific diseases and to design a logical approach for their work-up, diagnosis and treatment. Due to the clinical fact that the symptoms (and signs) of blepharitis (and conjunctivitis) are similar even when the etiology is different, a special emphasis has been made to highlight the specific differentiating characteristics of diseases. To this purpose, simple tables and flow charts have been compiled and included as appendices. In these guidelines (as for the others in this series) proper clinical observations and assessments remain always the most important steps for the design of the appropriate treatment regimen with the highest potential for beneficial outcomes.