[Sclerocornea. Ultrastructural and morphologic study].

A 6 month old white male infant had bilateral congenital diffuse sclerocornea. A penetrating keratoplasty was performed in his left eye. Histologic examination by electron microscopy demonstrated: the presence of vacuoles in the superficial epithelial layer, the absence of Bowman's membrane, a disorganization of collagen fibers and lamellae more prominent in the middle stroma, and an extremely thin Descemet's membrane. A comparison, using an automatized image analysis method, was carried out between the stroma of sclerocornea and a normal cornea. Morphometric analysis of the collagenous fibril's diameter and the interfibrillar distances demonstrated a statistically significant difference (p less than 0.001) between the two corneas examined.