the effect of anterior stromal puncture using q-switched nd:yag laser on corneal wound healing

introduction: recurrent corneal erosion occurs when the wounded corneal epithelium failed to adhere to the underlying stroma. therefore, this work aimed to assess the effect of treatment of corneal injury using q- switched nd:yag laser.  method: twenty one new zealand male rabbits weighing 2-2.5 kg and 3 months old were classified into three main groups. the control group: did not received any treatment (n=3 rabbits). the rest of the animals (n= 18 rabbits), corneal epithelium was injured by syringe needle and blade 15 and divided into:(a) normal healing group: which was divided into three subgroups (n=3 rabbits each), and the animals were left for normal healing for1 day, 1 week, and 4 weeks respectively, (b) laser treated group: divided into three subgroups (n=3 rabbits each) and subjected to anterior stromal puncture using q-switched nd: yag laser on corneal sub-epithelium or superficial stroma, and the animals were left for 1 day, 1 week, and 4 weeks respectively. after the demonstrated periods, the corneas were isolated for estimation of total protein content, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (sds-page), total antioxidative capacity (tac), total oxidative capacity (toc) and oxidative stress index (osi). results: the present results of corneal total protein showed increment in the percentage change in normal healed groups after 1 day, 1 week and 4 weeks by values of 93%, 68% and 39%. in q-switched nd: yag laser treated group the results showed better improvement in corneal protein than normal healed group with percentage changes of 58%, 29%, and 7.5% respectively. in sds- page, a protein band at 110 kd appeared in the migrating epithelium for both normal healed group and q-switched nd:yag laser treated group with changes in the peaks intensities at middle and  low molecular weight regions. moreover, after 4 weeks the peak at 110 kd disappeared in the wounded epithelium treated with q-switched nd:yag. after four weeks, the osi in laser treated corneas showed pronounced balance between antioxidative capacity and oxidative capacity. conclusion: anterior stromal puncture by q-switched nd:yag laser is an effective, simple, safe and promising procedure to treat recurrent corneal erosion than normal healing.