The histopathology of filamentary keratitis
G. W. Zaidman, R. Geeraets, R. R. Paylor and A. P. Ferry
Filamentary keratitis is characterized by the presence of fine filaments of
epithelium and mucus that are attached to the cornea. The exact
pathogenesis of this entity has remained unclear. One reason has been the
lack of pathologic specimens of corneas from patients with filamentary
keratitis. We examined the corneas of a patient who had died while
suffering from filamentary keratitis. Scattered groups of inflammatory
cells and fibroblasts were present just below the basal epithelium. It
seemed that these cells had disrupted the epithelial basement membrane and
Bowman's layer. To our knowledge, this is the first postmortem analysis of
a cornea in a patient with acute filamentary keratitis. These findings
support the theory that filamentary keratitis results from damage to the
basal epithelial cells, epithelial basement membrane, or both.
