Non-contact specular microscopy of the normal corneal endothelium. A statistical evaluation of morphometric parameters.

The corneal endothelium of 179 healthy persons (327 eyes), 4-89 years of age. as photographed through a non-contact specular microscope. From the histograms of the cell areas of each eye, other parameters were derived and subjected to computerized statistical analysis. In addition, photographs of both eyes of one person were taken on two different days and examined to determine the reproducibility of the method. The known age-dependent increase in the mean cell area as well as the decrease of the cell density with age could be confirmed. Other parameters that increase with age are the variability of the mean cell area and the maximum cell area; the latter correlates so well with age and is so easily measured that this parameter may facilitate further morphometric evaluations. For these age-dependent correlations not only regression lines but also third-rank regression curves, which seem to fit better, were calculated. Finally, age-independent parameters were found that may serve as potential additional criteria for a qualitative evaluation of the individual corneal endothelium.