Development and validation of the QUT corneal nerve grading scale.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a grading scale to facilitate the estimation of the amount of nerve tissue in images of the corneal subbasal nerve plexus captured using in vivo laser scanning corneal confocal microscopy (LSCCM).

Methods: Images of the corneal subbasal nerve plexus obtained using a Heidelberg LSCCM were sourced from a large image bank at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). These images were used to construct a grading scale for depicting the amount of nerve tissue, ranging from 0 (sparse) to 4 (extensive).