Corneal band keratopathy

Abstract

We report a case of a 20-year-old patient with chronic uveitis. The biomicroscopic examination of the left eye, found a calcified lesion. Which was typically present as a deposition of gray to white opacities in the superficial layers of the cornea with small holes. These changes were first seen peripherally a year ago, and then they have coalesced to form a horizontal band of dense calcific plaque across the cornea; away from visual axe (A,B). The retained diagnostic was a corneal band keratopathy. Considering that this corneal lesion did not affect vision of our patient, we decided to survey regularly the patient. The first clinical description of this condition was in 1948 by Dixon, and then in 1949 Bowman reported a second case. Corneal band keratopathy corresponds to calcareous deposits in Bowman´s layer, then in the anterior stroma. That forms a very fine whitish or grayish plaque perforated with multiple orifices; starting at the periphery of the cornea, typically located in the area of the palpebral cleft; then reaching progressively it center. But the topography may differ, especially in cases of secondary form to chronic corneal disease. Before the advent of the Excimer laser photokeractectomy (PKT), the therapeutic options proposed in the literature consisted on mechanical peeling with application of a chelator ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid (EDTA).