Corticosteroid therapy after anterior radial keratotomy in Primates.

Anterior radial keratotomy was performed on nine Green monkey eyes. Four of these eyes received subconjunctival corticosteroid injections immediately after surgery and three times thereafter at three-week intervals. Two eyes received subconjunctival physiologic salt solution injections on the same schedule. Three eyes received no injections after surgery. Although endothelial cell loss in the first week after surgery was reduced in the drug-treated eyes, there were no statistically significant differences in cell densities at nine months after surgery. Corticosteroid therapy after anterior radial keratotomy appeared to confer no long-range benefits in terms of the numbers of corneal endothelial cells in these primate eyes.