Corneal endothelial changes after excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy.

We used specular microscopy to investigate corneal endothelial changes after excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy. Twenty patients (26 eyes) underwent photorefractive keratectomy for the correction of myopia. The central cornea endothelium of each eye was observed preoperatively and one month postoperatively. Sixteen of the 26 eyes were examined by specular microscopy one year after photorefractive keratectomy. The corneal endothelial cell densities preoperatively, one month, and one year postoperatively were 3,221 +/- 216/mm2, 3,233 +/- 240/mm2, and 3,177 +/- 185/mm2 (mean +/- SD), respectively. The average coefficients of variation of mean cell area preoperatively and one month and one year postoperatively were 0.24 +/- 0.09, 0.23 +/- 0.05, and 0.22 +/- 0.05, respectively. There were no significant differences in mean cell density or the coefficients of variation of mean cell area among preoperative and one-month and one-year postoperative values. These results suggest that photorefractive keratectomy does not markedly affect the corneal endothelial cell density.