ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To evaluate the corneal epithelial thickness by anterior segment OCT in children with vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) compared to normal participants. PATIENT AND METHODS: A cross-sectional case control observational study was conducted on children aged from 5 to 18 years with VKC. The study included 142 eyes divided into two groups: 71 eyes of VKC group and 71 eyes of age matched control group. Anterior segment OCT epithelial mapping for the central 5-mm was done to evaluate epithelial thickness-based variables. RESULTS: Corneal epithelial thickness mapping showed significant superior thinning (51.07 ± 4.11) µm in VKC group compared to controls (52.54 ± 2.01) µm (p = 0.008), a decreased MIN epithelial thickness (45.99 ± 6.52) µm compared to controls (50.11 ± 1.91) µm (p < 0.001) and more negative (MIN-MAX) value (- 11.77 ± 9.38) indicating focal epithelial thinning compared to (- 5.80 ± 1.88) in controls (p = 0.001). In palpebral VKC, MIN epithelial thickness showed significant thinning (48. 38 ± 3.45) µm compared to controls (50.11 ± 1.91) µm (p = 0.001). Eyes with mixed VKC showed superior epithelial thinning (50.70 ± 4.59) µm compared to (52.54 ± 2.01) µm in controls (p = 0.025) and significant decreased MIN epithelial thickness (43.78 ± 7.83) µm compared to (50.11 ± 1.91) µm in control group. CONCLUSIONS: VKC is a disease primarily affecting the corneal epithelium. Corneal epithelial thickness mapping may be considered to assess the integrity of the ocular surface in eyes with VKC, and to detect corneal epithelial changes. Disease phenotype may influence the corneal epithelial changes, and the disease duration is another factor influencing these changes.
Subject(s)
Conjunctivitis, Allergic , Humans , Conjunctivitis, Allergic/diagnosis , Tomography, Optical Coherence , Cross-Sectional Studies , Cornea , EyelidsABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the alignment pattern of the graft-host junction after penetrating keratoplasty (PK) by anterior segment-optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) and to correlate this pattern with the magnitude of postoperative astigmatism. METHODS: This retrospective observational study was carried out on forty patients who underwent PK from February 2013 to August 2014. AS-OCT was performed, and the graft-host junctions were classified into well-apposed junction, malapposed junction, and equally apposed junction. Mal-apposition is subdivided into gap and protrusion. The correlations between clinical characteristics, wound profiles from the AS-OCT, and the magnitude of postoperative astigmatism by Sirius camera (Costruzione Strumenti Oftalmici [CSO], Florence, Italy (CSO, Sirius), were analyzed. RESULTS: Graft-host junctions from forty patients were analyzed; 18 eyes had well-apposed junctions, ten eyes had malapposed junctions, and 12 had equally apposed junctions. The mean cylinder was -9.44 ± -4.00D in well-apposed group, -13.40 ± -5.01D in malapposed group, and -4.67 ± -0.94D in equally apposed group. Alignment pattern of the graft-host junction correlated significantly with the magnitude of astigmatism (P = 0.034). Preoperative corneal diseases did not have an effect on the magnitude of astigmatism (P = 0.123). CONCLUSION: The alignment pattern of the graft-host junction by AS-OCT can explain the postoperative astigmatism after PK where it correlates significantly with the magnitude of astigmatism.
