Corneal and conjunctival calcification in chronic renal failure.

The deposition of calcium salts in the cornea and conjunctiva of patients with hypercalcaemia has been noted for some time, especially in the conditions of hyperparathyroidism (Cogan, Albright, and Bartter, 1948; Walsh and Murray, 1953), sarcoidosis (Cogan and others, 1948; Walsh and Murray, I953; Crick, Hoyle, and Smellie, I961; Cogan and Henneman, 1957), and vitamin D intoxication (Walsh and Murray, I953; Howard and Meyer, 1948; Leira, 1954; Smith, 1957). More recently Berlyne and Shaw (I967, I968) reported similar deposits in patients with acute and chronic renal failure in whom by contrast there was hypocalcaemia and marked hyperphosphataemia. They also found that the calcium and inorganic phosphate product was usually greater than 70 in these patients, and further suggested that these deposits were responsible for the red eye of renal failure. Other workers have confirmed the presence of these deposits in uraemic patients but have questioned the aetiology of the red eye (Harris, Cohn, Toyofuku, Lonergan, and Galin, I97I; Caldeira, Sabbaga, and Ianhez, I970). The purpose of this paper was to assess ocular calcium deposits in a moderately large group of patients with chronic renal failure, and to find if there is any correlation between these deposits, the red eye of renal failure, reduced tear production, and the bony rarefaction which often occurs in such patients. Finally, the effect of regular haemodialysis and renal transplantation on such deposits was observed over periods of from I to 4 years.