Relationship between corneal arcus and hyperlipidaemia is clarified by studies in familial hypercholesterolaemia

In subjects with familial hypercholesterolaemia for whom integrated exposure to hyperlipoproteinaemia can be determined, arcus development correlates with age rather than extent or pattern of hyperlipoproteinaemia. This permissive effect whereby arcus development becomes progressively time-dependent rather than dose-dependent at increasing levels of hyperlipoproteinaemia may underlie difficulties in the interpretation of premature corneal arcus in less specific disorders. Arcus development is not apparently influenced by levels of high-density lipoprotein in plasma.