Assessment of Central Corneal Thickness in Different Subtypes of Systemic Sclerosis.

PURPOSE: To compare central corneal thickness between patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis and limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis.

METHODS

A total of 53 consecutive patients with systemic sclerosis were enrolled in this study. All subjects were screened for age, gender, classification of disease subtype, autoantibody profile, duration of disease, organ involvement, current treatment, tear break-up time, Schirmer test, and measurement of the central corneal thickness with an ultrasonic pachymeter.

RESULTS

No statistically significant differences were found in terms of age, sex, and duration of the disease, and dry eye evaluation between systemic sclerosis subsets. The mean central corneal thickness was 535.3 ± 37.6 µm (range, 471-619 µm) in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis patients, and 539.3 ± 37.1 µm (range, 484-651 µm) in limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (p = 0.71).

CONCLUSIONS

Central corneal thickness in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis is not different from the one in limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis.