Donor corneal endothelium: slit-lamp examination of buttons in storage medium.

The integrity of the corneal endothelium is vital to the maintenance of a clear graft. The slit-lamp examination of the cornea from the endothelial surface, as described, allows the exclusion from transplantation of buttons with obvious endothelial trauma or disease. The use of this method at the Wilmer Institute during the last four years has been part of the preoperative assessment of all corneal donor buttons and has helped to reduce the rate of early graft failure.