title: Confocal microscopy of the normal human cornea.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Eurolens Research, Department of Optometry and Neuroscience, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Efron
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Perez-Gomez
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Mutalib
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hollingsworth