BRUSH TECHNIQUE IN OCULAR SURFACE CYTOLOGY

New techniques are being searched for the evaluation of cellular morph ology and population of ocular surface. Impression cytology is one of the most preferred techniques in ocular surface sampling in dry eye, k eratitis, and conjunctivitis. We evaluated and compared the efficacy o f impression and brush cytology in 63 patients. All of the samples col lected by the brush technique were sufficient for diagnosis: 88% of th e slides revealed abundant cells and 12% adequate number of cells. In 21% of the samples observed by impression cytology the cell number was inadequate for diagnosis. In 58% of them the cells were abundant and in 21% few cells were observed. This study proved the value of brush c ytology in collecting ocular surface cells. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.