PURPOSE To describe etiologies and clinical characteristics of corneal opacities leading patients to seek cosmetic treatments. METHODS The medical records of 401 patients who presented for cosmetic improvement in corneal opacities between May 2004 and July 2007 were retrospectively reviewed. The following parameters were analyzed: age, gender, cause of corneal opacity, time course of the corn...

Keratoconus (KCN) is an ectatic disorder with progressive corneal thinning and a clinical picture of corneal protrusion, progressive irregular astigmatism, corneal fibrosis and visual deterioration. Other ectatic corneal disorders include: post-LASIK ectasia (PLE) and pellucid marginal degeneration (PMD). Corneal crosslinking (CXL) is a procedure whereby riboflavin sensitization with ultraviole...

PURPOSE To investigate the topography of the central and peripheral cornea in a group of young adult subjects with a range of normal refractive errors. METHODS Corneal topography data were acquired for 100 young adult subjects by a method that allows central and peripheral maps to be combined to produce one large, extended corneal topography map. This computer-based method involves matching t...

PURPOSE To evaluate the optical aberrations induced by LASIK refractive surgery for myopia on the anterior surface of the cornea and the entire optical system of the eye. METHODS Total and corneal aberrations were measured in a group of 14 eyes (preoperative myopia ranging from -2.5 to -13 D) before and after LASIK surgery. Total aberrations were measured using a laser ray-tracing technique. ...

PURPOSE To investigate the test-retest variability of and factors associated with the corneal deformation response, and evaluate its impact on IOP measurement. METHODS Forty normal and 140 glaucoma suspect/glaucomatous eyes of 104 individuals were prospectively included for repeated measurements of corneal deformation response by an ultra-high-speed Scheimpflug camera, followed by corneal hys...

Key issues in corneal epithelium biology are the mechanism for corneal epithelium stem cells to maintain the corneal epithelial homeostasis and wound healing responses, and what are the regulatory molecular pathways involved. There are apparent discrepancies about the locations of the progenitor populations responsible for corneal epithelial self-renewal. We have developed a genetic mouse model...

PURPOSE To evaluate the performance of corneal topographic astigmatism (CorT) based on total corneal power measurements. METHODS Anterior, posterior, and total corneal power measurements of 526 virgin eyes obtained using the CSO Sirius tomographer (Costuzione Strumenti Oftalmici, Scandicci, Florence, Italy) were analyzed. Individual CorTs were created from each set of data. These CorTs were a...

PURPOSE To investigate corneal abnormalities in heterozygous Pax6(+/Sey-Neu) (Pax6(+/-), small eye) mice and compare them with aniridia-related keratopathy in PAX6(+/-) patients. METHODS Fetal and postnatal corneal histopathology, adult corneal thickness, and the distribution of K12-immunostained cells were compared in wild-type and Pax6(+/-) mice. RESULTS Prenatally, the corneal epithelium...

Substance P (SP) is a neuropeptide, predominantly released from sensory nerve fibers, with a potentially protective role in diabetic corneal epithelial wound healing. However, the molecular mechanism remains unclear. We investigated the protective mechanism of SP against hyperglycemia-induced corneal epithelial wound healing defects, using type 1 diabetic mice and high glucose-treated corneal e...

Substance P (SP) is a neuropeptide, predominantly released from sensory nerve fibers, with a potentially protective role in diabetic corneal epithelial wound healing. However, the molecular mechanism remains unclear. We investigated the protective mechanism of SP against hyperglycemia-induced corneal epithelial wound healing defects, using type 1 diabetic mice and high glucose-treated corneal e...