[Herpes therapy and prophylaxis. I. A critical review (author's transl)].

This critical review is based upon controlled experimental and clinical data. Dendritic keratitis initially should be treated by debridement of the diseased epithelium followed by antiviral medication. The advantages and disadvantages of different debridement techniques and different synthetic antivirals are discussed. Rational treatment of other forms of herpetic eye disease with antivirals, steroids, therapeutic soft lenses, collagenase inhibitors etc. necessitates first of all an exact diagnosis (disciform edema, interstitial herpetic keratitis, herpetic (kerato-)uveitis, metaherpetic erosion, metaherpetic ulcer). Therapeutic or prophylactic measures which as yet have found no valid experimental or clinical basis are discussed as well as further developments. Special interest is laid upon the application of human interferon.