Cloudy cornea

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Cloudy cornea

Eye

A cloudy cornea is a loss of transparency of the cornea.

Corneal opacification; Corneal edema

The cornea is normally a nearly invisible, transparent structure covering the iris of the eye. Its two purposes are to transmit and focus the light entering the eye. Certain metabolic diseases, trauma, infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies, and environmental situations may cause clouding of the cornea. Clouding results in varying degrees of visual loss.

• Vitamin A deficiency (a leading cause of blindness in underdeveloped countries)
• Sjogren's syndrome
• Herpetic keratoconjunctivitis (a form of conjunctivitis caused by herpes simplex)
• Alkali and other chemical  burns to the cornea
• Trachoma (an infection common in parts of Asia and North Africa)
• River blindness (onchocerciasis - an infection common in parts of Africa)
• A number of rare inherited diseases involving abnormal metabolism

Review Date: 11/14/2005
Reviewed By: Edward B. Feinberg, MD, MPH, Professor and Chair, Department of Ophthalmology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.