Search

A case of retrocorneal fibrous membrane is reported in a patient who underwent cataract extraction and experienced a postoperative hyphema. A distinctive straw-colored appearance to the membrane was due to blood staining. A penetrating keratoplasty with extensive anterior segment surgery restored the eye to useful vision. The penetrating keratoplasty specimen disclosed an unusual double-layered retrocorneal fibrous membrane, produced in part by a vascularized fibrous ingrowth and also by fibroblastic transformation of the corneal endothelial cells.

This case report describes the clinical and pathological characteristics of an intrastromal epithelial corneal cyst. This lesion tends to occur after relatively minor trauma, in younger patients, and is a slowly progressive disorder that develops over many years. The eye shows no signs of inflammation. The cyst typically appears opalescent but may be characterized by a fluid level. Pathologically, the cyst cavity is lined by cells with features similar to those of limbal corneal eplithelium. Treatment consists of removal or destruction of the epithelial cells lining the cavity.

A 21-year-old woman developed bilateral keratoconjunctivitis from contact lens wear, which progressed to diffuse corneal scarring and vascularization after the patient refused to discontinue wearing contact lenses. The visual disturbance became so severe that a penetrating keratoplasty had to be performed in one eye for visual rehabilitation. Examination of the penetrating keratoplasty specimen disclosed destruction of Bowman's membrane throughout the superior half of the cornea, which was replaced by a fibrous scar that was only midly chronically inflamed. Deep vascularization occurred within the stroma. This case represents an extreme expression of a recently characterized syndrome consisting of conjunctival and corneal changes in patients who may be allergic to contact lenses or the solutions used in conjunction with their care. In the milder end of the spectrum, there is superior epibulbar conjunctival injection with associated tarsal injection, and a mild superficial punctate keratopathy without filaments. Some earlier workers have termed this syndrome a variant of superior limbic keratoconjunctivitis in association with contact lens wear, but this leads to confusion with Theodore's classical superior limbic keratoconjunctivitis, to which the present entity bears no etiologic relationship; it also fails to show many of the findings of Theodore's disease. In mild cases, we would recommend the term contact lens-induced keratoconjunctivitis, and in the more severe cases, such as demonstrated by our patient, we would suggest the term contact lens-induced keratopathy.

Endothelial pigmentation does not usually interfere with vision. This case report documents a dense and extensive deposition of uveal pigment in corneal endothelial cells of a patient who had undergone 2 previous grafts subsequent to an alkali burn injury. The previous graft in which the pigmentation occurred remained compensated, but vision was impaired secondary to dense endothelial pigmentation. A combination of the initial chemical injury, recurrent iritis, chronic glaucoma, and multiple intraocular procedures may have resulted in the stimulus for the uveal tract to disperse a large amount of pigment onto the cornea and its subsequent phagocytosis by the endothelium. Endothelial pigmentation may become a more commonly seen complication in attempts to treat the severely damaged anterior segment.

A 40-year-old black man had two penetrating keratoplasties as a result of complications from alkali burns sustained many years earlier. Two further penetrating keratoplasties were performed for recurrent retrocorneal pigmentation. Both scanning and transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that the retrocorneal pigmented cells were iris melanocytes, based upon their fusiform or dendritic shapes and measurements of their cytoplasmic melanin granules. Repopulation of Descemet's membrane by the melanocytes was produced by a small remnant of atrophic iris. The pigment granules in the iris melanocytes were somewhat larger than those seen in similar cells from Caucasians or Orientals, but had identical measurements to those studied in an iridectomy specimen from another black patient. The retrocorneal iris melanocytes were able to synthesize banded basement membrane material, interrupted laminar basement membrane, and collagen fibrils. The cause of the exfoliation of the iris melanocytes onto the back of the cornea is unknown, but the discovery that iris melanocytes can proliferate in an ongoing fashion and secrete extracellular matrix provides new insight into the physiology of these cells.