Table 2.

List of in vivo and ex vivo CLSM features of healthy palpebral conjunctiva part of the eyelid margin and their histological correlates in H&E staining.

Anatomical	In vivo CLSM	Ex vivo CLSM	H&E staining
Superficial epithelium ↓ 0–70 μm	Tightly packed, low-reflective cell junctions and high-reflective cells with invisible nuclear (15 μm), filled with small amounts of highly reflective round large cells and dendritic cells	2–5 layers, polygon, high-reflective nucleus and low-reflective cytoplasmic cells	Multiple layers of pink cytoplasm with dark granules and dark blue or purple nuclei
Basal layer of the epithelium ↓ 60 μm–70 μm	High-reflective cell junctions and low-reflective cells with invisible nuclear (10–15 μm)	Monolayer, cube-shaped, highly reflective nuclei and medium-reflective cytoplasmic cells	Monolayer, purple nuclei in the center of the pink cytoplasm, darker than stratum spinosum
Lamina propria	Low reflection background and high reflection net-like collagen fibers	Crispy medium reflective collagen fibers	Crispy pink collagen fibers
Meibomian gland	Unable to observe	Round, sharply demarcated structures filled with low-reflective cytoplasm and highly reflective nuclei	Large cells packed with lipids and centrally located nuclei

↓, depth under surface.