EPITHELIAL MAPPING AND TOPICAL ANTIGLAUCOMA TREATMENT: EARLY DETECTOR OF OCULAR SURFACE SUFFERING?

The corneal epithelium is one of the major structures that undergo changes to the ocular surface. It is for this reason that the central epithelial thickness measurement has been proposed as an objective indicator to monitor the health of the ocular surface. We report the case of a 60-year-old patient who has bilateral open-angle glaucoma under dual therapy and diffuse bilateral central epithelial thinning in epithelial mapping. Thickness variability can be correlated with patientÂ’s dry eye symptoms, and that epithelial thickness profiles could be used to monitor a patients response to treatment. The thinning is usually moderate and its exact therapeutic implication in terms of stopping or changing therapy remains to be determined by future studies.