Observation of posterior corneal vesicles with in vivo confocal microscopy and anterior segment OCT

Abstract

The histopathology of posterior corneal vesicles (PCV) has not yet been revealed. A 15-year-old girl, who was diagnosed by slit-lamp microscopy as PCV, was examined using specular microscopy, in vivo confocal microscopy, and anterior segment OCT (optical coherence tomography). Anterior segment OCT showed that the thickness of both corneas was within normal limits. At the same time, in vivo confocal microscopy revealed endothelial cells in the rounded dark areas, acellular hyporeflective layers on the Descemet's membrane, and hyperreflective linear lesions. These findings were not reported previously by slit-lamp and specular microscopy. The abnormal findings only existed at the Descemet's membrane and corneal endothelial layer. Previous reports dealing with posterior polymorphous dystrophy (PPMD) examined using in vivo confocal microscopy reported almost the same findings, suggesting that PCV and PPMD may be the same at the microstructural level. © 2010 Watanabe et al.