What is an Indolent Corneal Ulcer?
• An indolent corneal ulcer is the result of a corneal defect. This is also known as a refractory epithelial erosion. This defect is found in the superficial portion of the corneal stroma just beneath the epithelium. The defect does not allow the epithelium to stick to the underlying stroma and, as a result, these ulcers do not heal with simple medical therapy or take an extremely long time to heal. These ulcers will sometimes cause blood vessels to grow into the cornea resulting in scarring when they take too long to heal. Indolent corneal ulcers are also called persistent corneal ulcers, refractory corneal ulcers, or boxer ulcers, due to the frequency that the problem is seen in this breed.
