Background: Although there are excellent techniques to photograph gross ocular pathology specimens, it is difficult to view or photograph the entire eye from a glass slide using equipment designed for photomicrography. This investigation was initiated to develop a technique to image the entire eye from a glass slide.
Methods: The glass histopathologic slide, placed in a carrier intended for 35-mm film transparencies, is inserted into a 35-mm slide scanner. The glass slide is scanned, creating a digital color image which may be converted to black and white with enhancement of certain histologic features. One may use a digital film recorder to produce 35-mm photographic transparencies or a dye sublimation printer to produce high-resolution color or black and white prints.
Results: More than 400 ocular whole-mount preparations have been digitized in the authors' laboratory to generate illustrations suitable for publication or for analysis in morphologic research.
Conclusion: Digital techniques provide easier control over density and contrast than conventional photographic methods. Digitized images are well-suited for morphologic analyses in research. These techniques allow one to publish black and white photographs for books or journals while retaining the original color image for potential CD-ROM editions.