AIM: To report in vivo confocal microscopic(IVCM)in corneal edema.

METHODS: Twenty-one patients with clinically diagnosed corneal edema were involved. All cases, in addition to control group of five normal eyes, were examined with IVCM.

RESULTS: IVCM findings in corneal edema showed that epithelial bullae appeared as dark, round areas with well-defined margins in all of the patients; Subepithelial fibroblasts and scarring; Other IVCM features included absent(57%)or reduced(43%)subbasal nerves in central corneal; Apart from the associated scar tissue, BZ presented a branching pattern of fine, darklines in all of the patients. Furthermore, fine or coarse granularity with avariable degree of reflectivity were noted in the anterior stroma in 13 of the 21 cases(62%); The number of keratocytes in the stroma of corneas was less than that in the normal corneas measured by using confocal microscopy in all of the patients; Endothelial changes with total obscuration of endothelial cell borders were seen in all of the patients. IVCM findings in the control group showed normal patterns.

CONCLUSION: This is the study in which IVCM features of corneal edema have been found in detail. Subepithelial fibroblasts, reduced subbasal corneal nerves and stromal keratocyte were well documented in this study. With increasing popularity of endothelial keratoplasty this work supports the role of IVCM in quantitative evaluation of corneal edema in preoperative stages, as well as after surgery.