Autosomal dominant keratitis: a possible aniridia variant.

Objective: To describe the findings in a family with hereditary keratitis.

Design: Case series.

Setting: Eye genetics clinic at a university-affiliated hospital in Edmonton.

Juvenile xanthogranuloma of the corneoscleral limbus.

Juvenile xanthogranuloma presenting as an isolated corneoscleral lesion is rare. We report such a case in a 5-year-old boy who required lamellar sclerokeratectomy to the level of Descemet's membrane. Ten months after treatment by total excision and lamellar corneoscleral grafting with donor tissue there was no evidence of recurrence.

Effects on the corneal endothelium of anterior chamber reconstituents instilled during intracapsular cataract extraction.

Intracapsular cataract extractions with a standardized technique were performed on a series of patients. The loss of corneal endothelial cells was found to vary predictably with the material instilled into the eye to reconstitute the anterior chamber. Reconstitution with Miochol was associated with minimal constant cell loss, while reconstitution with air resulted in greater cell loss in the early than in the late postoperative period.

Corneal effects of intraocular air.

To resolve the apparent contradiction between Norn's work on human eyes suggesting that postoperative air protects the corneal endothelium and the work of Leibowitz on excised animal eyes suggesting that air damages the corneal endothelium, we have replicated Norn's findings in an animal model similar to that used by Leibowitz. Since fewer metabolically active cells may maintain corneal deturgesence even after cell loss we do not believe that Norn's work contradicts that of Leibowitz. We find that the eyes treated with air have significantly less corneal swelling.