Background: A patient with intraocular silicone oildeposits underwent paracentral corneal incision but the corneal sutures were never removed and 7 years later a perforating corneal transplantation was performed due to corneal opacification.
Methods: The corneal button was fixed in 10% buffered paraformaldehyde, embedded in celloidin and sections 200 microns thick were cut and stained with van Gieson. Some of these sections were embedded in paraffin and 5 microns thick sections were cut.
Results: Celloidin sections showed intrastromal silicone oil droplets located adjacent to defects in Descemets' membrane and corneal sutures but the endothelial cells contained no silicone oil droplets.
Conclusion: Silicone oil can penetrate the corneal stroma in cases of defects in Descemets' membrane.