The Effect of Mitomycin-C on Corneal Endothelial Cells after Photorefractive Keratectomy

Purpose: to evaluate short-term changes in central corneal endothelial cell density and morphology after photorefractive keratectomy (prk) with mitomycin-c (mmc) 0.02% in patients with moderate myopia. methods: in this prospective interventional case series, patients with moderate myopia (spherical equivalent refractive error from -4.0 to -8.0 d) underwent prkwith a single intraoperative application of mmc 0.02% for 40 seconds. specular microscopy was performed preoperatively and repeated 6 months after surgery to determine changes in central corneal endothelial cell density (ecd), mean cell area (mca) and coefficient of variation in cell size (cv). results: overall, 42 eyes of 21 participants with mean age of 26.2±6.3 years underwent surgery. mean preoperative spherical equivalent refractive error was ‑5.2±1.2 d which was reduced to -0.4±0.5 d postoperatively (p < 0.001). mean ecd was reduced insignificantly from 2,920±363 cells/mm2 preoperatively to 2,802±339 cells/mm2 postoperatively (p = 0.59). similarly, there was no significant change in mca or cv at six months (p = 0.76 and 0.52, respectively). conclusion: application of mmc 0.02% for 40 seconds during prk in patients with moderate myopia did not significantly affect central corneal endothelial cell density and morphology after a 6 month follow up period