[Association between iris color and ciliary body pigmentation: possible implications for cyclophotoablation treatment].

BACKGROUND

Cyclophotoablation for glaucoma treatment is dependent on the amount of laser energy absorbed by the ciliary body and related to the degree of its pigmentation. Iris color may be assessed by observing the eye, but it is unknown whether it correlates with ciliary body pigmentation.

AIM: We evaluated whether ciliary pigmentation correlates with iris color.

METHODS

The pigmented epithelium of the ciliary processes of 31 enucleated eyes was qualitatively scored for six histological parameters and correlated with iris color.

RESULTS

The dark iris group (n = 19) had significantly increased histological parameters of pigmentation such as aggregation of melanosomes, compared to the light iris group (n = 12) (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

Iris color correlates with ciliary pigmentation and may serve as one of the factors determining laser power needed for cyclophotoablation.