Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography For Evaluating Palisades of Vogt in Ocular Surface Disorders With Limbal Involvement

Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) has been used to observe the morphology and epithelial thickness of the palisades of Vogt (POV) with satisfactory resolutions. In this study, we used SD-OCT to examine the microstructure of the POV in ocular surface disorders with limbal involvement and to detect subclinical limbal pathologies based on five parameters. Eighteen eyes of 10 patients (2 men and 8 women; mean age, 48.7 ± 14.0 years) with advancing wavelike epitheliopathy (AWE) and 15 eyes of 9 patients (2 men and 7 women; mean age, 30.3 ± 18.2 years) with phlyctenular keratitis/ocular rosacea were recruited. SD-OCT could detect abnormal changes in the POV in 100% of the lesion sites. In presumed-healthy areas of the diseased eyes diagnosed by slit-lamp biomicroscopy, SD-OCT detected abnormal changes in the POV in 100% of the eyes in both the AWE and phlyctenular keratitis/ocular rosacea groups. In patients with unilateral disease, abnormal changes in the POV were detected by SD-OCT in 50% and 100% of presumed-healthy eyes diagnosed by slit-lamp biomicroscopy in the AWE and the phlyctenular keratitis/ocular rosacea group, respectively. SD-OCT is powerful in detecting POV changes in ocular surface disorders and can provide useful information that cannot be provided by slit-lamp biomicroscopy.