Corneal endothelial changes after posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation in patients with or without diabetes mellitus.

We examined 96 patients (111 eyes) who underwent extracapsular cataract extraction with the implantation of a posterior chamber intraocular lens. Of 96 patients 24 (29 eyes) with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus had no or simple retinopathy; 72 patients (82 eyes) served as non-diabetic controls. The central corneas of all subjects were photographed by a specular microscope preoperatively and three, six, and 12 months postoperatively. No significant differences in the endothelial cell density, coefficient of variation, or cell loss were noted between diabetic patients and age matched non-diabetic subjects during the observation period.