The corneal endothelium following photocoagulation: induced decompensation

The wide-field specular microscope was used to study retrospectively the corneal endothelia of six patients. Each patient had recovered from an episode of corneal decompensation in one eye, which consisted of subepithelial edema, punctate staining, iritis, and a fixed dilated pupil, following retinal photocoagulation with the xenon arc. In each case, the normal and the previously decompensated eyes were found to have equal endothelial cell counts and indistinguishable cell morphology. Nothing was seen to suggest why these corneas should have decompensated. It is concluded that photocoagulation-induced corneal decompensation did not produce permanent morphological changes in corneal endothelial cells. Possible mechanisms of corneal decompensation are discussed.