Corneal chrysiasis: in vivo confocal microscopy analysis.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the in vivo confocal microscopy corneal findings in a patient treated with gold sodium thiomalate.


METHODS
A woman with rheumatoid arthritis who had been treated with gold sodium thiomalate for 32 years came to our center for an ophthalmologic examination about 5 years ago. Besides visual acuity, the examination included slit-lamp biomicroscopy, intraocular pressure, and funduscopy. Confocal microscopy was performed using Confoscan 4 (Nidek Technologies, Padova, Italy) with a 40x lens.


RESULTS
Every layer of the cornea is affected by gold deposits with high reflectivity, especially in the anterior stroma, where they have a larger dimension.


CONCLUSIONS
Corneal chrysiasis can be evaluated by confocal microscopy, giving information on corneal metabolism and physiology.
Paladini
Iacopo
I
Department of Oto-Neuro-Ophthalmological Surgical Sciences, Eye Clinic, University of Firenze, Policlinic of Careggi, Firenze, Italy. lapopala@hotmail.com
Menchini
Ugo
U
Mencucci
Rita
R
D000368:Aged; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy; D003315:Cornea / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D003316:Corneal Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006052:Gold Sodium Thiomalate / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D006052:Gold Sodium Thiomalate