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Abstract

We thank Dr Khan for his interest in our article and in Latin. We also have some knowledge of Latin. Dr Khan would prefer that we use the term corneal guttae rather than cornea guttata or corneal guttata. Cornea guttata and corneal guttata are, however, the terms most commonly used in the literature to describe the condition we are reporting—for example, in Duane’s Clinical Ophthalmology. According to the text, “the term corneal guttata was used by Vogt in 1921 to describe ‘drop like excrescences of the posterior surface of the cornea.’ Guttata (the adjective form of gutta, Latin, drop) refer to the collective excrescences on the endothelium seen with biomicroscopy.”1Van Meter W.S. Holland E.J. Doughman D.J. Corneal edema.in: Tasman W. Jaeger E.A. Duane’s Clinical Ophthalmology [book on CD-ROM]. External Diseases. Vol. 4. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia2002Google Scholar, 2Kenyon K.R. Hersh P.S. Starck T. Fogle J.A. Corneal dysgeneses, dystrophies, and degenerations.in: Tasman W. Jaeger E.A. Duane’s Clinical Ophthalmology [book on CD-ROM]. External Diseases. Vol. 4. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia2002Google Scholar A quick search in PubMed for cornea guttata, corneal guttata, and corneal guttae finds 119 citations for the first, 121 citations for the second, and only 36 citations for the third. Some overlap occurs. Many recent studies, including Lorenzetti et al’s,3Lorenzetti D.W. Uotila M.H. Parikh N. Kaufman H.E. Central cornea guttata: incidence in the general population.Am J Ophthalmol. 1967; 64: 1155-1158Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (125) Google Scholar Burns et al’s,4Burns R.R. Bourne W.M. Brubaker R.F. Endothelial function in patients with cornea guttata.Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1981; 20: 77-85PubMed Google Scholar and Kitagawa et al’s,5Kitagawa K. Kojima M. Sasaki H. et al.Prevalence of primary cornea guttata and morphology of corneal endothelium in aging Japanese and Singaporean subjects.Ophthalmic Res. 2002; 34: 135-138Crossref PubMed Scopus (52) Google Scholar use the term cornea guttata or corneal guttata. The use of cornea guttae is therefore rather uncommon, though possibly more correct considering the Latin language. We adopted the cornea guttata version commonly used, and the one instance where we use corneal guttata in Table 1 is a typo. We do not dispute that Dr Khan is recommending the correct use of the Latin language. In our study, we did use specular microscopy, with which this disruption of the regular endothelial mosaic appears as dark areas rather than drops, which might call for a new name! Reykjavik Eye Study and Cornea GuttataOphthalmologyVol. 113Issue 12PreviewThroughout their population-based study of the corneal endothelium, Zoega et al1 use the term cornea guttata as a plural to mean “abnormal excrescences of basement membrane and fibrillar collagens produced by distressed endothelial cells of the central cornea.” This usage is incorrect. Guttata is a singular adjective (Latin for droplike) that is meant to modify a singular noun; cornea guttata means a cornea affected by the disease or the corneal disease itself (guttatae is the plural adjective that would be indicated for a plural noun). Full-Text PDF