Comparing in-vivo confocal microscopy and ex-vivo light and scanning electron microscopy images of the hairs of the pine processionary caterpillar embedded in the cornea: Report of three cases

Abstract

This report describes three cases of pine processionary caterpillar hairs (setae) embedded in the cornea: one in a 69-year-old man with acute keratouveitis, a second case in a 65-year-old man with an epithelial defect and a stromal infiltrate, and the third case affecting a 54-year-old woman with mild keratitis. The two first patients had one hair embedded in the anterior corneal layers while the last one had several hairs deeply embedded in the stroma. By comparing in-vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) with ex-vivo light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, the morphology of the setae was identified and confirmed.

Keywords

• in-vivo confocal microscopy
• keratitis
• light microscopy
• processionary caterpillar
• scanning electron microscopy