EFFECTS ON THE CORNEAL ENDOTHELIUM 6 MONTHS FOLLOWING PHOTOREFRACTIVEKERATECTOMY

Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) with a 193-nm excimer laser has been shown not to destroy endothelial cells in vivo. However, this laser c ould damage endothelial cell metabolism, and result in damage over a l onger term. In this paper, a comparison between the number and shape o f corneal endothelial cells has been performed in 25 patients before a nd 6 months after PRK. These patients underwent treatment with myopic correction ranging from 2.5 to 17 dpt and with an estimated corneal th inning ranging from 25 to 170 mu m. No significant changes in the numb er (p = 0.167) and shape (p = 0.075) of endothelial cells have been fo und. These results show that there are no long-term damages after PRK even in severely myopic eyes.