We found that the spectrum of essential iris atrophy (progressive essential iris atrophy, Chandler's syndrome, and the Cogan-Reese syndrome) began as a corneal endothelial degeneration, which, with ectopic endothelial membrane overgrowth over an open angle, followed by contraction of this membrane and further growth onto the iris, accounted for all aspects of the syndrome. The contractile membrane caused the synechiae, the glaucoma, the corectopia, the ectropion uveae, the occasional iris nodules, and the iris atrophy. Thus we found this disease to be primarily of the cornea, and only secondarily of the iris. The results of this study led us to propose a new designation for this spectrum: primary proliferative endothelial degeneration.