Corneal perforations in Sjögren syndrome.

The postmortem histopathologic findings in the eyes of a patient with sjogren syndrome whose course was followed up for 15 years demonstrate a similarity between the marginal corneal degeneration in this disease and that found in Terrien degeneration. Conventional histologic techniques did not reveal positive evidence of the definitive cause of the lesions we noted. However, no inflammatory infiltrate or residue suggestive of an immune response was observed, nor was there any evidence of old or recent vascular inflammation or obliteration. The appearance of cataractous changes in each lens within a month after application of biologic tissue adhesive to seal the corneal perforations led us to suspect that this material can produce undesirable side-effects.