'En face' ex vivo reflectance confocal microscopy to help the surgery of basal cell carcinoma of the eyelid.

Background: Ex vivo confocal microscopy is a recent imaging technique for the perioperative control of skin tumour margins. Up to date, it has been used in the fluorescence mode and with vertical sections of the specimen margins. The aim of this study was to evaluate its use in the reflectance mode and with a horizontal ('en face') scanning of the surgical specimen in a series of basal cell carcinoma of the eyelid.

Handheld reflectance confocal microscopy for the diagnosis of conjunctival tumors.

Purpose: To evaluate whether the handheld in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy that has been recently developed for the study of skin tumors is suitable for the diagnosis of conjunctival tumors.

Design: Prospective study, observational case series.

Methods: We prospectively evaluated the reflectance confocal microscopy features of 53 conjunctival lesions clinically suspicious for tumors of 46 patients referred to the University Hospital of Saint-Etienne (France) by using the handheld device.

The role of in vivo confocal microscopy in the diagnosis of eyelid margin tumors: 47 cases.

Background: Handheld in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (IVCM) is a new imaging method that allows noninvasive diagnosis of cutaneous tumors but to date it has not been used in the study of eyelid tumors.

Objective: We sought to evaluate the suitability of IVCM for eyelid margin tumors.

Methods: We prospectively evaluated the IVCM features of 47 eyelid margin lesions, clinically suspicious of malignancy; 35 of these were excised whereas the other 12, with no IVCM malignant features, were followed up for at least 1 year.

Optical diagnosis of a metabolic disease: cystinosis.

Nephropathic cystinosis (NC) is a rare autosomal recessive storage disease characterized by the lysosomal accumulation of cystine crystals throughout the body, particularly in blood cells, the cornea, skin, kidneys, the central nervous system, and the muscles. The skin and the cornea are the most accessible sites to explore, and in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (IVCM) helps identify crystals in both but does not provide any information to help define their composition. Raman spectroscopy (RS) allows cystine to be easily recognized thanks to its characteristic signature with a band at 499 cm⁻¹.