The study marks

the first long-term study of the important corneal endothelium, which

could be affected by the popular procedure to correct myopia.

"This

study is significant because it was the first to examine the long-term

effects on the corneal endothelium in LASIK patients postoperatively,"

says Edelhauser, a professor in the Emory University School of Medicine.

Beginning in

1998 at Emory University, the study focused on 98 eyes of 65 patients.

They were examined postoperatively and at 35 to 37 months after the procedure.

Patients ranged

from 29 to 66 years of age, and 83 percent of them had a history of contact

lens use prior to their surgeries.

Their corrections

ranged from 2.25 to 14.5 diopters of myopia, that being from mild to more

profound nearsightedness.

Results showed

that LASIK "had no significant effect on central corneal endothelial

cell density or the percent of hexagonal cells 3 years after surgery,"

according to the report.

Further, there

was no significant change in the mean endothelial cell density or the

percent of hexagonal cells, which comprise a major portion of endothelial

cells.

The study found

also found that when patients stopped wearing their contact lenses following

surgery, the condition of their endothelium improved. The hexagonally-shaped

endothelial cells are typically altered or damaged by diabetes and such

conditions as wearing contact lenses.

The study's

findings may put to rest any fears of physiological damage that some patients

may have about the widely performed surgery.

In 2000, according

to FDA reports, some 800,000 to 1.4 million Americans underwent laser

refractive surgery, with those numbers increasing each year up from 210,000

in 1997.

Others who

participated in the report included Michael J. Collins, MD; Jonathan D.

Carr, MD; R. Doyle Stulting, MD, PhD; Ramzy G. Azar, MPH; George O. Waring

III, MD; Robert E. Smith, MD; and Keith P. Thompson, MD.

Back

to Healthwise Home Page |