Prevention of Recurrence of Ligneous Conjunctivitis with Subconjunctival and Topical Autologus Fresh Frozen Plasma-A Case Report

Objective: To report the case of a 6 year-old male child that presented ligneous conjunctivitis (LC) after infectious conjunctivitis, showing recurrent membranes after surgical removal; treatment with autologus fresh frozen plasma (AFFP) resulted in remission of the membranes. Methods: Ophthalmologic examination, plasminogen functional activity and plasmatic plasminogen level were measured for LC diagnosis. Surgical removal of the membranes was performed and light microscopy was applied on biopsies from both eyes. Topical treatment with corticosteroids and aminoglycosides was administered on both eyes. Bilateral recurrence was treated with the administration of a single subconjunctival injection of 0.75 ml of AFFP, continued with topical application every four hours for four weeks, tapered to every 6 hours to present. Results: The diagnosis of LC was confirmed with the 48% of plasminogen functional activity and supported with histological typical findings. Following surgical removal of membranes and topical treatment with corticosteroids, bilateral recurrence of membranes was observed after one month. Treatment with subconjunctival and topical AFFP revealed no recurrence of LC membranes after 4 years of follow-up. Conclusion: In our patient a single subconjunctival injection associated with topical administration of the AFFP impeded the recurrence of hard wood-like membranes presented in LC.