Senile choroidal vascular patterns and drusen.

The laminar structure of the eye has provided a unique opportunity to study such structures as retinal vessels, corneal and trabecular endothelium, lens epithelium, and retinal pigment epithelium in flat mounts. Depigmented choroid has also been studied in whole mounts, but to our knowledge, no study has been made heretofore of flat mounts which permit simultaneous examination of the choroidal vessels, of the cells that make up their walls, and of structures associated with them. The improved visualization of retinal vascular architecture made possible by preliminary digestion of the nonvascular components, 1 prior to examination on the flat, suggested the possibility that the study of flat preparations of the choroid might be similarly facilitated if the tissue were divested of as much of its pigment and nonvascular stroma as possible. It is the purpose of this paper to present the results of the study of the choroid when so treated,