Purpose  To report the epidemiological features, clinical signs, laboratory findings, and treatment outcomes in patients with corneal infection in Shandong peninsula of China.

Design  Retrospective hospital-based study.

Participants  A total of 310 patients diagnosed with corneal infection at the Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Qingdao University from January 2003 to December 2010.

Methods  The medical records of 310 inpatients (310 eyes) with corneal infection were reviewed retrospectively for demographic features, risk factors, seasonal variation, clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, and treatment strategy.

Main Outcome Measures  Patient history, ocular examination findings by slit-lamp biomicroscopy, laboratory findings from direct smear examination and fungal culture, and treatment protocol.

Results  Fungal keratitis constituted 58.32% of cases of infectious keratitis among the inpatients during the 8 years. An increasing tendency of incidence was noted in more recent years. The most common risk factor was the corneal trauma (70.02%). Followed by herpes simplex keratitis (21.56%), bacterial keratitis (18.43%) and Acanthamoeba keratitis (1.55%). A total of 283 cases (91.29%) patients received surgical intervention, including 137 cases of penetrating keratoplasty (44.19%), 43 cases of lamellar keratoplasty (12.80%) which has been an upward trend year by year. 40 patients (13.87%) had corneal lesion excision combined with conjunctival autograft valve surgery covered, 35 patients (11.29%) had evisceration or enucleation. Recurrence of the original 5.22% treated by PKP and 22.33% treated by LKP.

Conclusions  At present, infectious keratitis is a primary disease causing blindness in China. With Fusarium species being the most commonly isolated pathogens, fungal keratitis is the leading cause of severe infective corneal ulcers in north China. Its incidence has increased and occupied the first place of infectious keratitis in recent years. Corneal transplantation is an effective approach to drug resistant cases.