Correlation between epithelial healing rate and initial wound size in contact lens-induced central epithelial...

A correlation between individual epithelial healing rate and corresponding initial wound size was evaluated in 12 cases of contact lens-induced central epithelial abrasion. A fluorescein-stained epithelial defect area was photodocumented using a photo-slit lamp at about 6- to 12- hour intervals and measured by a computer-assisted image analyzer. The range of initial epithelial defect size varied from 4.8 to 47.3 mm2 and the epithelial healing rates calculated by linear regression differed from 0.144 to 1.128 mm2/h. However, the epithelial healing rate (y, mm2/h) was found to be linearly correlated with the initial wound size (x, mm2), i.e. y = 0.019x + 0.186 (r = 0.88). This result indicates that an epithelial healing rate can be estimated by the initial epithelial defect size by applying this formula in contact lens-induced central corneal abrasion.