Effect of laer in itu keratomileui (LAIK) on the corneal endothelium Original Reearch Article

Purpoe To ae the effect of laer in itu keratomileui (LAIK) on the corneal endothelium. Method In a propective tudy, the corneal endothelium of 98 eye of 65 conecutive patient (mean age, 41 year; range, 22 to 66 year) wa photographed before, 2 week after, and 12 week after LAIK for the correction of 2.75 to 14.5 diopter of myopia. Theoretical ablation depth were 200 to 330 μm below the corneal urface. Cell denity, coefficient of variation, and percent of hexagonal cell were determined uing 150 to 200 cell from each image. Eighty-eight eye (91%) of 59 patient had a hitory of contact len wear. Reult The mean ± D preoperative endothelial cell denity wa 2,549 ± 365 cell per mm2, and the mean coefficient of variation wa 0.35 ± 0.06. There wa no tatitically ignificant change in the mean endothelial cell denity or mean coefficient of variation of cell ize at the 2-week (2,561 ± 360 cell per mm2 and 0.35 ± 0.06) or 12-week (2,541 ± 364 cell per mm2 and 0.35 ± 0.05) potoperative examination. The percent of hexagonal cell wa not ignificantly changed 2 week potoperatively; however, 12 week potoperatively (P =.0413, two-tailed t tet), the percent of hexagonal cell wa decreaed by 1%. Concluion Corneal endothelial cell denity and morphology were unchanged 2 and 12 week after LAIK for the correction of up to 14.5 diopter of myopia. In thi LAIK tudy, the correction of up to 14.5 diopter of myopia appear to caue no clinically ignificant effect on corneal endothelial cell denity or morphology.