The significance of anterior chamber depth in Fuchs' corneal dystrophy and cornea guttata.

It is sometimes claimed that a relationship exists between Fuchs' dystrophy and angle closure glaucoma and that this is an indication for the simultaneous performance of keratoplasty and cataract extraction in patients with Fuchs' dystrophy. If such a relationship exists, then the anterior chamber depth in Fuchs' dystrophy should resemble that in angle closure glaucoma and a significant degree of cornea guttata might be expected to be common in angle closure glaucoma. In 88 patients with angle closure glaucoma we found that the anterior chamber depth was significantly shallower than in cornea guttata or Fuchs' dystrophy for acute (p < 0.001), chronic (p < 0.002) or incipient angle closure glaucoma (p < 0.001). Cornea guttata and Fuchs' dystrophy were very infrequent in these patients with angle closure, only two having cornea guttata and one Fuchs' dystrophy. These results do not support a relationship between angle closure glaucoma and Fuchs' dystrophy or cornea guttata and do not justify performing combined cataract surgery and keratoplasty in all cases of cornea guttata or Fuchs' dystrophy undergoing keratoplasty. Each case should be assessed on its merits and combined surgery should be reserved for patients shown to have a shallow anterior chamber or significant cataract.