Wound healing of grafts in congenitally opaque infant corneas

Wound healing, determined by uneventful suture removal, was evaluated in 28 corneal transplants (20 eyes) with congenital corneal opacities. Seven transplants in seven eyes with the typical central corneal opacities of Peters' anomaly had suture removal between 17 and 90 days postoperatively. All seven transplants remained transparent. Corneal grafts for sclerocornea or regrafts in sclerocornea healed much more quickly than those in eyes with Peters' anomaly (as early as four days postoperatively in the 13 most recent cases). In these corneas suture microabscesses and superficial neovascularization of the wound were signs indicating wound healing and also a host inflammatory response that led to graft rejection if the sutures were not removed.