The nature of the lipids of the vitreous humor has been of interest to ophthalmologists in their study of certain ocular diseases in which discrete particles which consist more or less of lipids are visible ophthalmoscopically in the vitreous humor. Although it is probable that in 1791 Schmidt1 was the first to observe such bodies in the vitreous humor, not until the past twenty years has their occurrence been found to be fairly common. The clinical and microscopic characteristics and the origin of these particles have been incompletely investigated.
Lipid and nonlipid bodies in the vitreous humor were classified by Bachstez2 as follows:
Bodies in the fluid vitreous—synchysis
Synchysis scintillans: generally cholesterol crystals
Synchysis nivea or albescens: white opacities which are possibly leucine or tyrosine
Bodies in nonfluid (scintillans) vitreous
Poorly defined flakes of unknown chemical nature
Globules (asteroid hyalitis) of calcium, and perhaps magnesium,