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Beware the ornamental plant
  1. Kwesi N Amissah-Arthur1,2,
  2. Markus Groppe1,3
  1. 1Victoria Eye Unit, Hereford County Hospital, Hereford, UK
  2. 2Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, City Hospital, Dudley Road, Winson Green, Birmingham, UK
  3. 3Prince Charles Eye Unit, King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Kwesi N Amissah-Arthur, Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, City Hospital, Dudley Road, Winson Green, Birmingham B18 7QH, UK; kaarthur{at}doctors.net.uk

Abstract

A keen female gardener presented to the emergency department of the hospital with a large corneal abrasion, conjunctival injection, an anterior chamber reaction and a hypopyon. She put it down to trauma that day while gardening, as she had been pruning her patio plant. The Euphorbia species of ornamental plants have been known to cause an intense reactive anterior uveitis and kerato-conjunctivitis caused by the milky sap it produces. Emergency medicine doctors and ophthalmologists should be aware of the effects of the sap of the Euphorbia species of plants.

  • eyes

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Footnotes

  • Competing interests None.

  • Patient consent Obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; not externally peer reviewed.

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