Terrien's Marginal Degeneration of the Cornea

ABSTRACT

Marginal degenration of the cornea was first described by Triimpy in 1881. Since then other investigators have reported many marginal degenerations of the cornea in various different clinical nomenclatures but it has never been described in Korea. Marginal or peripheral degeneratoin of the cornea was also reported by Terrien in 1900. The condition is uncommon and usually bilateral although one side may be more advanced than the other. It occurs most often (about 75%) in male in the age brancket of 10 to 70 but majority of cases were noted before the age of 40. Clinically the disease starts with peripheral opacity in punctate pattern simulating an arcus seniHs and vascularized. As the problem advances, furrow gradually develops and spreads all around the periphery of the cornea in circumferential fashion. The cornea becomes extremely thin in this area but epithelium is intact. At the central margin of the furrow, one may see an advancing edge of lipid. The two cases reported in the following are a 20 year old Korean lady with unilateral marginal corneal degeneration in the inferior part of the cornea, and a 68 year old man with typical bilateral marginal corneal degeneration which has developed since his age of 27.