In Vivo Confocal Microscopy of Cornea in Patients with Terrien’s Marginal Corneal Degeneration

Figure 2

Corneal structures under IVCM. a1–a6 are the central corneal structures of TMD patients, b1–b6 are the central corneal structures of the controls, c1–c6 are the marginal corneal structures of TMD patients, and d1–d6 are the marginal corneal structures of the controls. The density of epithelial cells in the central and marginal cornea of TMD patients was decreased, the cell boundaries were blurred, and the dot-like highly reflective substances appeared; the density of the subepithelial nerve fiber plexus was significantly reduced and even disappeared (blue arrow), while the density of inactivated Langerhans cells (green arrow) and activated Langerhans cells (black arrow) was increased. The number of anterior, medium, and deep stromal cells of the cornea was decreased, the dot-like (yellow arrow), needle-like (white arrow), and flaky highly reflective substances without cell structures (red arrow) were presented, and the boundaries of endothelial cells were blurred.