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Microcornea

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Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology

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Definition

Microcornea refers to a cornea with a horizontal diameter of less than 10–11 mm (Gupta and Kim 2010). The term microcornea should be reserved for cases of small corneas in an otherwise normal globe. However, one will find the term microcornea used to describe an abnormally small cornea in the setting of nanophthalmos or microphthalmos. Nanophthalmos refers to an abnormally small, but normally organized, globe. Microphthalmos refers to a small and disorganized globe (Gupta and Kim 2010; Sugar 2004; Waheed and Azar 2005).

Etiology

Microcornea is a congenital abnormality. Overgrowth of the anterior tips of the optic cup during eye development has been proposed to result in a smaller than normal corneal size (Gupta and Kim 2010; Waheed and Azar 2005).

Clinical Presentation

Microcornea can occur as an isolated anomaly, or the entire eye may be smaller than normal, with or without disorganization of the eye anatomy. Eyes with microcornea are likely to be hyperopic because their...

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References

  • Gupta PK, Kim T (2010) Developmental corneal abnormalities of size and shape. In: Krachmer JH, Mannis MJ, Holland EJ (eds) Cornea, 3rd edn. Mosby Elsevier, China, pp 646–647

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  • Khan AO (2012) Microcornea with myopic chorioretinal atrophy, telecanthus and posteriorly-rotated ears: a distinct clinical syndrome. Ophthalmic Genet 33(4):196–199

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  • Rabiah PK (2004) Frequency and predictors of glaucoma after pediatric cataract surgery. Am J Ophthalmol 137(1):30–37

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  • Sugar J (2004) Congenital corneal anomalies. In: Yanoff M, Duker JS (eds) Ophthalmology, 2nd edn. Mosby Elsevier, St. Louis, p 431

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  • Waheed NK, Azar N (2005) Congenital abnormalities and metabolic diseases affecting the conjunctiva and cornea. In: Foster CS, Azar DT, Dohlman CH (eds) Smolin and Thoft’s the cornea: scientific foundations and clinical practice, 4th edn. Little Brown and Company, Boston, pp 708–709

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology School of Medicine, Boston University, 85 E. Concord Street, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    Hyunjoo Lee

Authors
  1. Hyunjoo Lee
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Correspondence to Hyunjoo Lee .

Editor information

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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Lee, H. (2014). Microcornea. In: Schmidt-Erfurth, U., Kohnen, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35951-4_823-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35951-4_823-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35951-4

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