[Potentialities of confocal microscopy in the evaluation of the cornea in the dry eye syndrome].

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the investigation was to study the potentialities of confocal microscopy in the evaluation of the corneal status in the dry eye syndrome (DES). Fifty-two patients (104 eyes) were examined and divided into 2 groups 1) 32 patients with the verified diagnosis of DES of various etiology; 2) 20 healthy volunteers (a control group). Corneal confocal microscopy was made on a Confoscan-4 device (Nidek, Japan). The investigations ascertained that there was a direct relationship between the functional parameters, the degree of severity, rather than the etiology of DES and the changes in the corneal morphological pattern. Overall, corneal changes in patients with DES primarily involved the anterior epithelium and anterior stromal layers. The non-invasive and high informative value of confocal microscopy made it possible to study at the fundamentally new level the corneal structure that is always involved in the pathological process in DES.