Vital staining of the corneal endothelium with rose bengal and alizarin red S.

A new technique for the staining of the corneal endothelium is presented, in which the actions of the vital stain, rose bengal, and the intercellular stain, alizarin red S, are combined. The technique is an improvement over other simple evaluative methods, because it defines both healthy and damaged cells, and thereby permits an investigator to accurately quantify endothelial cell damage.