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Corneal Tattoo

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Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology

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Definition

Corneal tattooing refers to the delivery of pigment into the corneal stroma to improve the cosmetic appearance of disfiguring scars or reduce the glare and visual distortion in patients with large iridectomies, traumatic loss of iris, or congenital iris colobomas. Tattooing can be especially helpful for patients in whom reconstructive surgical procedures will not result in functional improvement or for those who are unable to tolerate a printed contact lens or bulbar shell.

Impregnation techniques have been used for nearly 2000 years, in which the dye is delivered with the use of multiple punctures perpendicular to the corneal surface. Newer techniques include (a) the application of a platinum ion solution to the cornea, which when reacted with a second agent forms a dark black precipitate in the cornea and (b) a dermatography-like manner of tattooing, which employs punctures parallel to the corneal surface with a conventional spatula needle. Most recently, the success of...

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Further Reading

  • Kim JH, Lee D, Hahn TW, Choi SK (2009) New surgical strategy for corneal tattooing using a femtosecond laser. Cornea 28(1):80–84

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kymionis GD, Ide T, Galor A, Yoo SH (2009) Femtosecond-assisted anterior lamellar corneal staining-tattooing in a blind eye with leukocoria. Cornea 28(2):211–213

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pitz S, Jahn R, Frisch L, Duis A, Pfeiffer N (2002) Corneal tattooing: an alternative treatment for disfiguring corneal scars. Br J Ophthalmol 86:397–399

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Reidy JJ, Bouchard CS, Florakis GJ et al (2012) Basic and clinical science course, section 8: external disease and cornea. AAO, San Francisco, p 405

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21202, USA

    Farhan Merali

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  1. Farhan Merali
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Correspondence to Farhan Merali .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Ophthal & Optometry,AKH, Medical University of Wien Dept of Ophthal & Optometry,AKH, Wien, Austria

    Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main Department of Ophthalmology, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Thomas Kohnen

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Merali, F. (2014). Corneal Tattoo. In: Schmidt-Erfurth, U., Kohnen, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35951-4_583-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35951-4_583-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35951-4

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