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Michael A. Lemp, MD
Washington, DC

Arch Ophthalmol. 1991;109(7):917.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—I read with interest both the letter to the editor¹ and the case report² describing the occurrence of striate melanokeratosis after treatment with 5-fluorouracil. Stank et al¹ suggest that 5-fluorouracil may stimulate pigment formation. Striate melanokeratosis occurs in heavily pigmented individuals, particularly after injury or chronic inflammation involving the cornea. The cornea normally contains no pigmented cells, but melanocytes are present in the limbal area adjacent to blood vessels. It is thought that melanin transfers from these cells to adjacent epithelial cells, which are then carried centripetally forward in the cornea. The pattern visible on the cornea is one of a vortex. A variety of conditions produce a similar pattern in which the direction of cellular movement becomes evident because of the intracellular material. Bron of Oxford (England) University described a variety of diverse conditions exhibiting this vortex pattern and believed that they represented . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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