What Is Epithelial Basement Membrane Dystrophy?

Ever develop pain in an eye in the middle of the night or immediately upon wakening? It’s possible that you may have this condition. Even if you have mild irritation and/or blurry vision or even no symptoms at all, it’s possible you have a mild version of this condition.

Epithelial basement membrane dystrophy (also known as map-dot-fingerprint dystrophy or anterior basement membrane dystrophy) is a very wordy name, but in short it means that the layer the corneal epithelium sits on is irregular. Instead of the cornea being nice and smooth, the epithelium of the cornea starts to develop multiple irregular folds.

These irregular folds are weaker than normal corneal epithelium. This can lead to folds breaking apart from the surface, causing recurrent corneal erosions and pain. This most often can happen overnight or upon awakening due to friction of the eyelid moving over the weak (and possibly slightly dry) surface. These erosions occurs in the more severe cases.

But few cases actually get that severe. Many people have this condition without even realizing that they do. What they notice instead may just be some irritation to the eye. Irregular folds in the surface of the cornea can cause the eye to dry out quicker. Also, trying to look through something that is folded can cause some distortions to vision. But unless severe enough many people aren’t affected significantly by the change in vision.

So is this something to worry about? Nope. It’s uncommon that someone gets severe symptoms from epithelial basement membrane dystrophy. And if those symptoms do come, lots can be done for improvement.

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