title: Corneal chrysiasis: in vivo confocal microscopy analysis.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oto-Neuro-Ophthalmological Surgical Sciences, Eye Clinic, University of Firenze, Policlinic of Careggi, Firenze, Italy. lapopala@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Iacopo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Paladini
authors.forename: Ugo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Menchini
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mencucci
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D006052:Gold Sodium Thiomalate