Characterization of epithelial downgrowth by confocal microscopy

A 43-year-old white woman with a history of multiple ocular surgeries, incl uding 4 penetrating keratoplasties, developed a concentric retrocorneal mem brane at the graft periphery in the right eye. A white-light, tandem, scann ing confocal microscope using a 24 X/0.60 contact objective was used to exa mine the right eye in vivo. At the endothelial layer, confocal microscopic images similar to corneal epithelial cells were detected at the graft perph ery. Unlike normal endothelial cells, the imaged cells demonstrated easily recognizable nuclei. (C) 1999 ASCRS and ESCRS.