Ocular infection and inflammation.

Managing the inflamed or infected eye in the emergency setting presents a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to the emergency physician; the causes and prognoses range from benign, self-limited illness to organ-threatening pathology. A careful history, with attention to comorbid illnesses and time course, is paramount, as is knowledge of the complete ophthalmologic examination. Much of the organ morbidity is ameliorated with prompt therapy in the emergency department and by initiating ophthalmologic consultation.