Surface alterations, corneal hypoesthesia, and iris atrophy in patients with climatic droplet keratopathy.

OBJECTIVE

To present external eye findings and the observation of iris atrophy in patients with climatic droplet keratopathy (CDK).

METHODS

Twenty-three patients with CDK and 13 controls living in a semideserted plain of the Argentine Patagonia were studied. Besides a comprehensive eye examination, Cochet-Bonnet aesthesiometry, Schirmer II test, breakup time (BUT), and surface staining were performed. According to corneal findings, eyes were grouped as grade 1 (confluent translucent microdroplets localized in the limbic region of the horizontal quadrants); grade 2 (band-shaped subepithelial haziness compromising the central cornea); and grade 3 (previously described lesions with yellow subepithelial droplets). Results were analyzed with the Fisher, Mann-Whitney, and Spearman tests, which were considered significant at P < 0.05.

RESULTS

Nineteen of 23 patients with CDK had bilateral disease, which was asymmetric in 2 of them. Sixteen eyes had grade 1, 21 eyes had grade 2, and 5 eyes had grade 3 disease. Aesthesiometry showed that the more advanced the disease, the more profound the corneal hypoesthesia (P = 0.0008). BUT and ocular surface staining significantly differed between eyes with grade 3 and grade 1, grade 3 and grade 2, and grade 3 and controls. In 38.09% of eyes with CDK and in none of the controls, sectorial depigmentation and atrophy of the inferior iris were observed.

CONCLUSIONS

A severe decrease of corneal sensitivity was observed in advanced stages of CDK. Some degree of dry eye was present in most patients, but severe disease was infrequent at any stage of CDK. Inferior iris depigmentation and atrophy was frequently observed among patients with CDK.