Topical vitamin A ointment increases healing of cataract incisions

To demonstrate the effect of topical vitamin A ointment upon the healing of corneoscleral incisions, rabbits were incised bilaterally. After adequate healing time had elapsed, wound strength was assessed by measuring bursting tensile strength. Retinol palmitate 0.5% ointment was applied bid to the right eyes of five rabbits and plain petrolatum ointment was applied to the left eyes. After 13 days, no significant increase in wound strength was found between eyes. However, retinol palmitate 0.1% ointment, when applied tid to the right eyes of nine incised rabbits, was found to double wound strength at 13 days (P less than .0001). This latter strength was repeated in double-blind fashion in five rabbits. After 13 days, wound strength was increased by a factor of 1.45 (P less than .05). Thus we conclude that retinol palmitate 0.1% ointment increases wound strength in healing corneoscleral incisions.