Abstract

Aim: To report on cornea pseudoguttata which occurred in 44 eyes from 40 patients.

Methods: In 3521 consecutive patients seen at a local eye clinic, eyes were examined with a slit-lamp biomicroscope in specular illumination. When guttate appearance was found, specular microscopy was performed.

Results: Cornea pseudoguttata was found in 44 eyes of 40 patients (1.1%). All patients had some form of anterior-segment ocular diseases, including keratitis (corneal infiltration) with contact lens wear (n = 16), epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (n = 8), corneal epithelial defect (n = 6), superficial punctate keratitis (n = 4), corneal foreign body (n = 3), keratitis of unknown causes (n = 3), corneal ulcer (n = 2), herpetic keratitis (n = 1), and iritis (n = 1). Six eyes were lost to follow-up, but in the remaining 38 eyes, cornea pseudoguttata completely resolved as the primary anterior-segment diseases subsided. Specular microscopy, measured after resolution of cornea pseudoguttata, showed that corneal endothelial cell density was not different between the affected and contralateral healthy eyes.

Conclusion: Cornea pseudoguttata is commonly found in cases with corneal infiltration and inflammation. These results indicate that cornea pseudoguttata is reversible in its nature and resolves completely without any damage to the corneal endothelial cells.