Effects of corneal neovascularization on the manifestations of Avellino corneal dystrophy (granular corneal dystrophy type II)

PURPOSE: To evaluate the corneal deposits of Avellino corneal dystrophy (ACD) in patients with corneal neovascularization from pterygium or phthisis bulbi as a way of understanding the pathogenesis of ACD. METHODS: Five patients with ACD with pterygium, 10 patients with ACD (age >50 years) without pterygium, 1 patient with ACD with phthisis bulbi with corneal neovascularization, and 1 patient with ACD with phthisis bulbi without corneal neovascularization were examined. The corneal deposits of all patients were assessed by slit-lamp examination and reviewed with biomicroscopic photographs. The distance between the limbus and the nearest corneal opacities was measured. RESULTS: In eyes with vascularized nasal pterygia, there was a granule-free zone adjacent to the advancing edge of the pterygium so that the distance between the nasal limbus and the most nasally located granule exceeds that of the distance between the limbus and the closest granule elsewhere on the cornea. In patients with ACD with phthisis bulbi, no granular deposits were observed in the cornea with neovascularization, but there were deposits in the cornea without neovascularization. CONCLUSION: Corneal neovascularization prevents the deposition of corneal opacities in patients with ACD.