Optical coherence tomography findings in recurrent corneal erosion syndrome

To report the findings of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in the corneas of patients with recurrent corneal erosion syndrome (RCES).

Ten normal subjects and 25 patients with RCES were recruited for the study. Ten patients with RCES suffered from an acute episode of pain and 15 patients complained of typical chronic symptoms of RCES. All eyes were scanned with the anterior segment 5 line raster acquisition protocol of the Cirrus HD-OCT platform (Zeiss). The etiology of RCES was investigated and treatment was provided following a standard clinical protocol. Scans were obtained at different stages of the pathology and each patient was followed-up after treatment.

Tear film, epithelium, basement membrane, Bowman layer, stroma, and Descemet-endothelium complex were identified by OCT in all normal corneas. The same structures were identified in nonaffected areas of RCES corneas. The findings on OCT from patients suffering from acute RCES were as follows: anterior stromal hyper-reflectivity (100%), epithelial edema (100%), and irregular breaks in the epithelium (90%). Undetected epithelial basement membrane (100%), intraepithelial basement membrane (60%), intraepithelial inclusions (60%), and anterior stromal hyper-reflectivity (40%) were seen in patients with chronic RCES. These findings correlated well with the clinical symptoms and with previously described histological reports of RCES.

Corneal OCT can be useful to study and manage RCES. Specific OCT findings may clarify etiology, confirm a suspected diagnosis, and give advice on the decision to treat patients.