PURPOSE To evaluate the efficacy, safety, predictability, and visual performance of excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) for myopia greater than -8 diopters (D). METHODS Fifty-four patients (104 eyes) with myopia from -8D to -13D and cylinder up to -4D received surface ablation technique with the Allegretto wave version 1009-1 excimer laser to correct their refractive error. The pa...

PURPOSE Previous studies suggest that corneal haze after injury involves changes in the light-scattering properties of keratocytes that are possibly linked to the abundant expression of water-soluble proteins. The purpose of this study was to determine the protein expression pattern of keratocytes from different species and different cultured rabbit keratocyte phenotypes and to assess differenc...

PURPOSE To evaluate the changes in corneal transparency and thickness measured objectively using Pentacam Scheimpflug (Oculus Optikgeräte GmbH) corneal tomography (densitometry) after corneal cross-linking (CXL). METHODS Twenty-two eyes from 15 patients with keratoconus underwent CXL. Corneal thickness and curvature as well as lens and corneal densitometry were measured at baseline and 1, 3, ...

Measurement of sublayer thickness and transparency at cellular level in the living animal are critical to understanding the role of specific transgenes and transgene products in controlling corneal development and maintenance of transparency. Using two different transgenic mouse strains having altered corneal clarity, we have evaluated the ability of in vivo confocal microscopy to measure corne...

PURPOSE Macular corneal dystrophy (MCD) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by progressive central haze, confluent punctate opacities and abnormal deposits in the cornea. It is caused by mutations in the carbohydrate sulfotransferase-6 (CHST6) gene, encoding corneal N-acetyl glucosamine-6-O-sulfotransferase (C-GlcNAc-6-ST). We screened the CHST6 gene for mutations in Indian familie...

PRK in human eyes was first performed in 1988. It involves removal of corneal epithelium followed by application of Excimer laser and has been proven to be safe and effective method of low to moderate power correction of myopia upto-6D (I). LASIK involves creation of a corneal flap with an automated microkeratome, followed by Excimer laser ablation of the stromal tissue. LASIK is being performe...

PURPOSE To analyze whether rebamipide (REB) and carteolol hydrochloride (CH) protect against UVB-induced corneal damage in mice. METHODS BALB/c mice topically pretreated with REB (1 and 10 mM) or CH (1, 10, and 100 mM) were exposed to ultraviolet (UV) B light at 416 micro W/cm(2). To evaluate corneal damage, mire irregularity was graded, and the haze index was estimated by using digitized cor...

PURPOSE To report a specific line of research developed at the University of São Paulo/Brazil on fibrin glue used for sealing corneal perforations and the perspectives of use on non-perforated corneal ulcers and photorefractive keratectomy-operated corneas. METHODS To describe fibrin glue manufacture, development of a device to test the glued perforated corneal area resistance, subsequent exp...

OBJECTIVES To compare topical interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) to steroid treatment following photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in rabbit eyes. METHODS Our study is a randomized, investigator-masked study that was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Following standard PRK, 48 eyes of 24 rabbits were divided into 5 arms: 4 treatment arms and 1 control arm. Th...