Corneal chrysiasis: in vivo confocal microscopy analysis
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Updated: Jun 16, 2026
Corneal Confocal Microscopy: A Novel Non-invasive Technique to Quantify Small Fibre Pathology in Peripheral Neuropathies
Published on: January 3, 2011
Iacopo Paladini1, Ugo Menchini, Rita Mencucci
1Department of Oto-Neuro-Ophthalmological Surgical Sciences, Eye Clinic, University of Firenze, Policlinic of Careggi, Firenze, Italy. lapopala@hotmail.com
Purpose:
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.
