Corneal Epithelial Wound Healing after Excimer Laser Photorefractive Keratectomy:A Histo-pathological Research

Objective To investigate the corneal epithelial healing process after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).Methods PRK was performed on both eyes of21New Zealand white-rabbits.The attempted corrections were-5.0diopters for the right eyes and-15.0diopters for the left.The eyes were enucleated at1d,3d,1weeks,2weeks,1month,3months,6months after surgery.The corneas were prepared for light and transmission electron microscopies.Results During1month postoperatively for the right eyes and3months for the left,the epithelium on the ablated area showed edema ,disorder arrangement with immature basement membrane.Moreover,the cell layers of corneal epithelium become more than normal during the6months after PRK,especially in the-15.0diopters group.Conclusions The corneal epithelium shows persistent hyperplasia after PRK.The morphological disturbance of epithalium after PRK lasts for about 1month in-5.0diopters group,and for more than3months in-15.0diopters one.