CORNEAL ENDOTHELIAL-CELL DAMAGE BY SILICONE TUBE CONTACT

Drainage tube-cornea touch may result in corneal endothelial cell dama ge following glaucoma implant surgery, Using rabbit 6 mm corneal butto ns, we investigated the extent of endothelial cell damage following co ntact with a silicone tube similar to that used in glaucoma implants, Corneal button endothelial cell layers in contact with a silicone tube for either 1, 5, 15, or 30 minutes had significantly greater damage t han those of control buttons and the 30-minute contact time produced s ignificantly greater endothelial cell damage than that of shorter cont act times SEM demonstrated that the damage was typified by the loss of large numbers of endothelial cells resulting in areas of denudation o f Descemet's membrane.