Will Cortisone drops used for corneal herpes cause any harmful effect?

Hi doctor,

I am a female aged 38 years, I had my first outbreak of corneal herpes five months back. It was treated incorrectly by a GP first with Cortisone and antibiotics. The eye doctor put me on Acyclovir cream and later added Cortisone drops to prevent scars. After a month, while on vacation (lots of sun and salt water) it came back. I did not recognize the signs at first and thought the redness was only due to irritation. It lingered, so after coming back home, I was put on Acyclovir orally. Two months back, the dye did not show any active ulcers, so I could lower the oral dose to 400 mg and use Cortisone drops again. Last week for a check up the dye showed two active ulcers again. I am really shocked and scared now. My doctor did not say if it was stromal keratitis or not. Is there a way to tell? I have always had 100 % vision since the lesions are not in front of the pupil. But I do not know why I had a recurrence even while on Acyclovir. Could the Cortisone drops be detrimental? My doctor said to increase the dose back to 800 mg and stop Cortisone. Is there a way to clear this for now? I do not know if I had two relapses or if this never really healed in the first place. Is there a way to prevent such frequent outbreaks at all? It is difficult not to stress when I fear I will go blind.

Hi doctor,

Thank you for your reply. Like I said, I am already taking Acyclovir orally but had a recurrence now while the dose was lowered (and possibly the Cortisone drops were a reason). Could you elaborate on how to tell the difference if it is stromal keratitis or epithelial? My doctor did not say anything about this and I only found out now that there is the stromal version with immune reaction which scares me a lot.