CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Background: Conjunctival amyloidosis is a very rare condition, generally unilateral, and presents mostly as anisolated condition without systemic compromise. Our purpose is to present a new case of systemic amyloidosiswith a bilateral conjunctival involvement.Case Presentation: A 66-years-old caucasian female complaining of conjunctival hemorrhage and chemosis inboth eyes for the last five years had been discontinuously treated with topical antibiotics and corticosteroidswithout any evident improvement. She presented with a pink-yellow infiltration in the inferior conjunctiva of botheyes. Conjunctival biopsy under optical microscopy revealed amyloid deposit, confirmed by Congo red staining.Mucosal biopsy from esophagus and rectus confirmed amyloidosis by Congo red stain. Immunohistochemistry ofbone marrow biopsy showed an increased number of plasma cells and an over-expression of light chain kappasubunit. She was treated with corticosteroids and lubrication with an improvement of symptoms. Ocular lesionsremained stable after a follow-up of 3 years.Conclusions: Conjunctival amyloidosis is a rare entity that may be overlooked, and should be differentiated fromchronic conjunctivitis and conjunctival malignancies. Although it presents most frequently as a local process, asystemic involvement should always be ruled out.