Faculty Bibliography

Three corneas with intrastromal hydrogel implants (surfilcon A) were removed from Green monkey eyes by penetrating keratoplasty and examined by light microscopy, as well as scanning and transmission electron microscopy, in order to assess the tolerance of the primate cornea for this type of synthetic plastic. Placement of these implants in the posterior cornea appears to increase the amount of protrusion into the anterior chamber, which can also be seen clinically on slit-lamp biomicroscopy. Some physiological stress to the cornea was indicated by abnormalities above and below the implant, including thinned epithelium, irregular cell shapes, and vacuolations. It appears that a basement-membrane-like material is produced by keratocytes adjacent to the implant-stroma interface, and that this material fills the spaces and provides some physical continuity between the plastic and the corneal tissue. No inflammatory reaction was seen around the implants, but further long-term studies are necessary to ensure compatibility between the cornea and the implant

The National Eye Institute Prospective Evaluation of Radial Keratotomy (PERK) Study is a multicenter clinical trial for the evaluation of radial keratotomy. This article describes the questionnaire data collected on PERK patients and compares them with a similar group of myopic persons studied during the Rand Health Insurance Experiment (heretofore referred to as the Rand study). The PERK patients are young, white myopes who dislike being dependent on corrective lenses but perceive themselves to be more visually impaired than do comparable Rand study myopes. Most female subjects and a plurality of the male subjects have tried contact lenses and quit wearing them mainly because use of the lenses was inconvenient or bothersome. There is no evidence that patients are psychologically or socially deviant. Both male and female subjects expressed a fear of being without vision and cited impatience with the lenses as their major motivation for wanting surgery

We performed epikeratophakia for the correction of aphakia in 31 children, ages 2 months to 7 years, who had unilateral congenital or traumatic cataracts. In 27 patients with more than 4 months of follow-up, 23 of 30 (77%) grafts were successful. In the 15 patients with 6 months or more followup, the average increase in corneal curvature was 12.39 diopters. The average overrefraction needed to achieve emmetropia was + 2.14 diopters spherical equivalent. Two patients operated on within the first year of life have achieved 6/15 (20/50) visual acuities, as measured by visual evoked potentials. One patient operated on in the second year of life achieved 5/30 visual acuity, as measured by Allen cards. Two patients operated on for traumatic cataracts at ages 2 and 4 years achieved 6/9 (20/30) and 8/30 (Allen cards) visual acuities, respectively. Five older patients who had congenital cataracts or persistent hyperplastic vitreous showed some improvement in visual function. Advantages of epikeratophakia include the placement of most of the correction directly on the eye in a permanent attachment and the elimination of contact lens manipulation in uncooperative patients, so that more time and energy can be devoted to the occlusion therapy

The shaping of swollen, abnormally hydrated donor corneal tissue on the cryolathe for use in keratorefractive surgery yields lenticules of insufficiently predictable dioptric powers. The irregular nature of this abnormal hydration precludes the use of mathematical compensating factors. To improve control over the shape of the lenticule, we have developed a cornea press which restores normal hydration and dimensions to the donor tissue by mechanical dehydration

Visual results are reported for 23 cases of keratophakia for the correction of surgical aphakia followed from 12 to 48 months. Seventeen of the 23 patients had final visual acuities of 20/40 or better. The average residual visual overrefraction was 1.87 +/- 1.79 diopters (mean +/- SE), with an increase of postoperative astigmatism of 1.70 +/- 1.33 diopters. Complications included interface deposits and peripheral epithelial deposits that did not interfere with vision. One patient had an anterior chamber penetration and subsequent penetrating keratoplasty, and two patients had lenticules removed because of corneal edema secondary to increased intraocular pressure. The major disadvantages of keratophakia are the complexity of the procedure and the time required (4 to 6 months) to achieve best-corrected spectacle visual acuity. However, because this procedure is extraocular, it is a better choice than secondary intraocular lens implantation for patients who are unilaterally aphakic and for the young patient

Sixty-five epikeratophakia procedures have been performed in 63 patients; visual acuity data have been tabulated on 31 patients with 4 to 30 months follow-up. Patients with more than a year of follow-up showed stable keratometry readings. Early patients achieved 70% of the predicted dioptric correction; more recent patients have achieved 87% with improvements in the lathing procedure, tissue handling, and surgical technique. Visual acuities improve with time. At any given time after surgery, acuities measured with a hard contact lens are better than those measured with spectacles; the decrease in spectacle acuity is probably a result of irregular refraction at the graft surface. The gap between contact lens and spectacle acuity decreases with time. A number of patients achieve postoperative visual acuities better than their preoperative acuities, and most achieve final spectacle acuities within a line or two of their preoperative acuities

New forms of refractive surgery result in corneas that are nearly doubled in thickness. To test the reliability of standard instrumentation for the measurement of intraocular pressure in such eyes, the MacKay-Marg tonometer was used on eye bank eyes with and without epikeratophakia lenticules and/or bandage contact lenses. The Goldmann applanation prism in the hand-held Perkins portable tonometer and the MacKay-Marg tonometer were used to measure IOP in vivo in a primate eye with an epikeratophakia graft. Measurements were compared with actual intraocular readings from a transducer. The MacKay-Marg tonometer was reliable at pressures above 20 mm Hg; the extra thickness of the graft and/or the rigidity of the contact lens impaired the accuracy below 20 mm Hg. The Goldman tonometer was accurate over the entire range of pressures

On-lay lamellar keratoplasty was performed in 29 patients who had keratoconus. Twelve patients (greater than 1 year follow-up) showed an average decrease in keratometry of 9.13 +/- 2.02 (mean +/- SE) D; 6 patients (6-11 months follow-up) showed an average of 10.15 +/- 2.88 D. Visual acuity continued to improve for about one year after surgery. Six patients with best visual acuities of 20/20 before surgery showed an average visual acuity of 20/29 +/- 11 (mean +/- SD) 4 months after surgery; 4 with more than a year of follow-up achieved an average of 20/26 +/- 9. Four patients with 20/40 preoperatively achieved an average of 20/63 +/- 33 four months after surgery; 3 with more than a year of follow-up showed an average of 20/38 +/- 13. All patients with successful grafts can now tolerate contact lenses for daily wear

Corneal sensitivity was tested in 60 eyes of 30 patients who underwent unilateral epikeratophakia for the correction of aphakia (20 patients) or keratoconus (10 patients). Postoperative recovery time ranged from 2 months to 21 months (mean: 10 months). Our results indicate a relative hypesthesia of the epikeratophakia lenticule when compared with the peripheral host cornea and contralateral control cornea. However, corneal sensitivity tested in 11 patients with more than 1 year follow-up was increased compared with the sensitivity of 19 patients whose postoperative recovery was less than 1 year. Histopathologic findings in two lenticules from a nonhuman primate demonstrated sparse epithelial axon terminals. Host corneal nerves appear to innervate the lenticules by intraepithelial extension and by penetration of the superficial keratectomy scar

Although cataract surgery is feasible in children with unilateral cataracts, visual rehabilitation depends on optical correction and conscientiously maintained amblyopia therapy. Epikeratophakia for the correction of aphakia was performed in 47 children (50 grafts). Postoperative keratometry readings showed an average increase of 12.68 diopters in early patients. With new tissue-handling techniques, the last eight patients showed an average increase of +16.80 D, with -0.64-D overrefraction for emmetropia. Visual results indicate that epikeratophakia is an effective primary procedure for patients with unilateral traumatic cataracts and that it is superior to leaving vision uncorrected in children who have had unilateral congenital cataracts removed and are contact-lens intolerant. Further studies with younger patients will be necessary to define its role in neonates; however, individual results demonstrate that good vision is obtainable with epikeratophakia