Novel Manifestation of Corneal Dystrophy After Keratorefractive Surgery

This study aimed to report cases of bilateral corneal Bowman layer deposits in 4 patients with a history of keratorefractive surgery. To our knowledge, this condition has not previously been reported and should be distinguished from granular corneal dystrophy type 2 and other corneal dystrophies.

We reviewed all available medical records that were collected between January 2010 and December 2021 at a tertiary referral center and performed whole-exome sequencing to provide diagnostic information.

Four patients exhibited similar bilateral corneal deposits that were observed more than 10 years after keratorefractive surgery. The patients' ages ranged from 36 to 53 years; 3 of the 4 patients were female. Three patients received laser in situ keratomileusis surgery, and 1 received radial keratotomy. All 4 patients denied having a family history of ocular diseases and reported an uneventful postoperative course. On examination, the best-corrected visual acuity ranged from 6/10 to 6/6 in all 4 patients. Slit-lamp examination revealed bilateral superficial corneal deposits involving the central cornea, and anterior segment optical coherence tomography revealed hyperreflective deposits located in the Bowman layer. Such unique manifestations suggested corneal dystrophy; thus, whole-exome sequencing was performed on all 4 patients. Only 1 patient exhibited a missense mutation in TGFBI . We further analyzed common de novo mutations to explore possible candidate genes associated with this presentation.

We report a rare entity of presumed corneal dystrophy with deposits located in the Bowman layer in 4 patients who had received keratorefractive surgery. Clarifying the underlying pathophysiology and genetic predisposition of this disease may aid in diagnosing and preventing potential complications after keratorefractive surgery.