Dan Lei,1,2,* Xin Li,1,2,* Wei Bian,1,2 Junli Wan,1,2 Lu Wang,1,2 Jun Su1,2 

1Southwest Hospital/Southwest Eye Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Medical University), Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 2Key Laboratory of Visual Damage and Regeneration & Restoration of Chongqing, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Wei Bian, Southwest Hospital/Southwest Eye Hospital, Third Military Medical University (Army Medical University), Chongqing, 400038, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 15922933012, Email Bianwei@Tmmu.edu.cn

Background: Corneal ulcers, often caused by eye trauma, are the main cause of corneal blindness. Knowledge of their symptom experiences and self-management is limited. The aim of this study was to describe the symptom experience and self-management of patients with corneal ulcers and to provide references for clinical medical staff to understand their impact on quality of life.
Methods: Between July and December 2022, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 patients with corneal ulcers who were hospitalised. Colaizzi’s analysis was used to organise and analyse the interview data and this study followed the symptom management theory(SMT) model.
Results: The study comprised 10 male and 10 female patients with a mean age of 54.95 ± 8.41 years. Two major themes and six sub-themes were formed through the analysis of textual data: symptom experience and the diversification of symptom management strategies. Symptom experience illustrated the distressing symptoms faced by patients and the subsequent effects on their daily lives, with ocular pain and blurred vision reported by nearly all patients. In an attempt to manage these symptoms, patients demonstrated a diversification of symptom management strategies, which were derived from various sources, while also making adaptive changes to their daily lives.
Conclusion: This study revealed patients’ experiences and strategies of symptom self-management, which may be a step towards providing a reference for evaluating the quality of life in patients with corneal ulcers.

Keywords: corneal ulcers, symptom experiences, symptom management, qualitative study