Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography for Canaliculitis.

Canaliculitis is an uncommon inflammation of the lacrimal canaliculi, and it is often misdiagnosed as conjunctivitis or dacryocystitis. There are no gold-standard methods to diagnose canaliculitis, therefore newer methods such as ulrasound biomicroscopy are being introduced. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT) is being utilized to evaluate punctum and canaliculus, but no previous study has applied anterior OCT for canaliculitis. One case of canaliculitis with canaliculith was diagnosed by anterior segment OCT noninvasively, by successful detection of canaliculith. Pouting of the punctum and detection of canaliculith as hyper-reflective signals by OCT were checked, which was impossible with other conventional methods. Surgical incision and drainage confirmed the presence of stones. This article is meaningful as a first study about the diagnosis of canaliculitis with canaliculith using anterior segment OCT. Presence of canaliculith in vertical canaliculus, and the status of punctal epithelium and canalicular mucosa was possible in this study.