Three-dimensional confocal microscopy of the human cornea in vivo.

This paper reviews the literature from 1990 to 2000 and evaluates the seminal investigations performed with the confocal microscope on the in vivo human cornea. Our pedagogical technique is to illustrate both the advantages and the problems associated with occular confocal microscopy by way of annotated examples. Confocal microscopy offers improved resolution and has resulted in new discoveries of corneal pathology at the cellular level. The ability to provide high-resolution, real-time images of the full thickness of the cornea gives the clinician and the researcher an important new tool for the investigation of the cornea.