[Schnyder's crystalline dystrophy. I. Study of a case by light and electron microscopy].

Bilateral penetrating keratoplasties were performed in a case of Schnyder's crystalline stromal dystrophy and the buttons were examined by light and electron microscopy. Staining for lipids was negative probably because they had been dissolved during the dehydrating stage of the embedding process. In electron microscopy the deposits were highly suggestive of lipids. These deposits appeared as electron-lucent spaces, either empty and of regular geometrical form suggestive of cholesterol crystals, or smaller, rounded, and containing relative electron-lucent material also believed to be lipids. The crystals randomly accumulated in the superficial stroma, in Bowman's layer and in some basal epithelial cells, and the rounded spaces could be seen in all the layers of the stroma. Bowman's layer exhibited many disruptions. The endothelium and Descemet's membrane were unaffected. Our findings are compared with previous histological and electron microscopical reports.