ON THE OCCURRENCE OF PSEUDO‐EXFOLIATION MATERIAL IN EXTRABULBAR TISSUE FROM PATIENTS WITH PSEUDO‐EXFOLIATION SYNDROME OF THE EYE

Abstract

The present communication demonstrates pseudo‐exfoliation material in the palpebral conjunctiva of patients with pseudo‐exfoliation syndrome of the eye as determined by slit lamp examination. Biopsies of the skin or the oral mucous membrane of these patients did not reveal pseudo‐exfoliation material by electron microscopic investigation. Such material was also absent in conjunctival biopsies from patients without pseudo‐exfoliation syndrome of the eye. It is concluded that the pseudo‐exfoliation material in the mucous membrane of the eyelids is obviously not transported into this region from the intraocular space, and hence the occurrence of such material in this location indicates that pseudo‐exfoliation material is synthesized both in ocular and in extrabulbar tissue in patients with pseudo‐exfoliation syndrome of the eye.