[Considerations on the meta-herpetic keratitis (author's transl)].

The meta-herpetic keratitis is clinically characterized by the occurrence of a parenchymatous keratitis due to iterative herpetic corneal wounds. The rupture of the Bowman membrane which makes such a deep wound possible is performed by an enzyme: collagenase. This parenchymatous keratitis is rarely due to an extension of the viral infection. Most often it has an immunologic origin. It is a disciform keratitis due to a viral allergy, or a polymorphic keratitis connected with a bacterial, often tubercular, origin. In this case, one always notices a characteristic sugar tongs like composite limbic vascularization. Recovery can only be obtained by a specific desensitization.