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[Association between iris color and ciliary body pigmentation: possible implications for cyclophotoablation
Ronit Nesher1, Hadas Mechoulam, Ehud Zamir
1Department of Ophthalmology, Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba, Israel. nesher@inter.net.il
Background:
Cyclophotoablation for glaucoma treatment is dependent on the amount of laser energy absorbed by the ciliary body and related to the degree of its pigmentation. Iris color may be assessed by observing the eye, but it is unknown whether it correlates with ciliary body pigmentation.
Aim:
We evaluated whether ciliary pigmentation correlates with iris color.
Methods:
The pigmented epithelium of the ciliary processes of 31 enucleated eyes was qualitatively scored for six histological parameters and correlated with iris color.
Results:
The dark iris group (n = 19) had significantly increased histological parameters of pigmentation such as aggregation of melanosomes, compared to the light iris group (n = 12) (p < 0.01).
Conclusion:
Iris color correlates with ciliary pigmentation and may serve as one of the factors determining laser power needed for cyclophotoablation.
