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Updated: Mar 28, 2026
Author Spotlight: Establishing a Practical and Cost-Effective Protocol for Corneal Sensitivity Testing in Clinical Settings
Published on: August 2, 2024
Analysis of corneal esthesia in patients undergoing photorefractive keratectomy
Elmar Torres Neto1, Lucas Marcel Amaral Silva1, Giovana Arlene Fioravanti Lui1
1Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Purpose:
To quantitatively analyze corneal esthesia in patients undergoing photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) surgery.
Methods:
Forty-five patients selected for PRK in one eye underwent corneal esthesia using a Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer preoperatively and 30 and 90 days postoperatively. Patients with a refractive diopter error of 4 or greater received intraoperative 0.02% mitomycin C for 20 s.
Results:
Twenty-four (53.3%) of the 45 eyes received intraoperative 0.02% mitomycin. Decreased sensitivity was observed on postoperative day 30. By postoperative day 90, corneal esthesia had normalized but remained 14.9% lower than preoperative levels. In the mitomycin group, no recovery of corneal esthesia to normal sensitivity levels was observed. The mean esthesiometer level was 39.2 mm on postoperative day 90 (P<0.001).
Conclusions:
The results of the present study demonstrate recovery of corneal esthesia to normal levels at 90 days postoperatively in patients who did not receive mitomycin C. In patients administered mitomycin C, a 23.59% reduction in the corneal touch threshold was observed compared with preoperative levels indicating a failure of recovery to normal levels.
