Confocal microscopy of the normal human cornea.
The slit-scanning confocal microscope is a new clinical paradigm that allows the living human cornea to be viewed at a magnification of 680 x and a lateral resolution of 1 mum. As such, it allows corneal morphology to be inspected at a cellular level. The corneas of both eyes of 119 subjects who were evenly distributed in age from 10-80 years were examined using a Tomey ConfoScan P4 in-vivo slit-scanning real-time confocal microscope (Erlangen, Germany). Good quality representative images of the various corneal layers were selected for detailed qualitative analysis and are displayed here. A grid of corneal layer versus age was constructed from these images; this tool can be used as a normative confocal microscopy reference against which suspected corneal abnormalities can be assessed.
Efron
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Eurolens Research, Department of Optometry and Neuroscience, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, United Kingdom.
Perez-Gomez
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I
Mutalib
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HA
Hollingsworth
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J