We have had a request to inactivate this concept as outdated with the rationale that on searching Pubmed only one result is found which dates back to 1962. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4619855/
Only one other paper was found by the requester to describe this entity with an excerpt below https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1310198/pdf/taos00036-0309.pdf
McLaren, a student of malnutrition in ophthalmology, has seen the disorder in East Africa, and reports that it has been seen on the west coast of Africa, yet only in the Bantu. He is not convinced of the malnutritional basis of the disease because of its absence among illnourished individuals such as the marasmic child or the victim of kwashiorkor, and its presence in well-nourished children and (rarely) in a healthy adult. Consequently McLaren has offered the term discrete colliquative keratitis to describe the disease which he none the less regards as an entity identical with Blumenthal's malnutritional keratitis. McLaren documents the distinction between discrete colliquative keratopathy and keratomalacia of vitamin A deficiency (diffuse colliquative keratopathy). The differentiation rests mostly on the absence in the former of other signs of vitamin A deficiency, particularly xerosis, the focal and eccentric nature of the corneal involvement, and the lack of clinical response to vitamin A ingestion alone. McLaren regards the etiology of the disease as unknown
I did find one other reference to the condition in the book Cornea 5th Edition 2022 https://www.clinicalkey.com/#!/content/book/3-s2.0-B9780323672405000615?scrollTo=%23hl0000665
Discrete Colliquative Keratopathy
One final condition that may have a nutritional basis is the so-called discrete colliquative keratopathy (DCK). First described by Blumenthal in 1950 as “malnutritional keratoconjunctivitis,” it is a somewhat mysterious disease, having only been described in the South African Bantu. Frequently confused with keratomalacia, it would appear to be distinct in that the softening of the cornea occurs from within out, culminating in nonulcerating perforation in an otherwise “quiet eye.” Affected children tend to be slightly older than those whose corneas perforate with keratomalacia, being generally of preschool age. Typically, they suffer from early PEM rather than being marasmic. There is, however, no clear evidence that it is primarily a nutritional problem, and seasonal and annual fluctuations suggest that other unknown factors play a more important role
I also found it in the UK NHS Primary Care usage report though usage was less than 5.
Given the reference to it in Cornea and some evidence of use in the UK it may be rare and confined to one group of people but not a reason to inactivate but would appreciate any input on this.
Many thanks
Elaine
