Question:
My 11 year old niece was having her eyes examined by an optometrist and they were afraid she might have glaucoma so she saw a juvenile ophthalmologist who said she has thick corneas and wants to see her again in 3 months. Her father had juvenile diabetes; her grandmother has rheumatoid arthritis. Could the thick corneas be a sign of things to come and should we be worried?
Answer:
Unfortunately, this is too little information for me to help you very much. You have identified several potential problems that could be active individually, or in combination. Thick corneas (depending on how thick) could be a normal variant or a sign of a dystrophic condition (an inherited problem of the cornea). Your niece could have diabetes, but that is unlikely, and there are better ways to test for this than to examine the cornea. These are not the signs of rheumatoid arthritis, and that would not be on my differential. I assume that you saw a Pediatric Ophthalmologist, and that Eye M.D. is the best person to help you. She will be able to sort out this problem, but I remind you that this could be a normal variant, and hence the reason to see you again in three months. 
Answered by:
Ivan Schwab, MD 
