title: Cooling the cornea to prevent side effects of photorefractive keratectomy.
abstract: Complaints after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) include both severe pain and a decrease in quality of vision due to corneal subepithelial haze. We suspect that one of the causes of these troubles is a temperature rise at the corneal surface during ablation. We cooled down the eye with cold balanced salt solution before and after photorefractive keratectomy. Postoperatively, this reduced severe pain, subepithelial corneal haze and any damage to the corneal endothelium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Ito Hospital, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Niizuma
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Futemma
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Utsumi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohashi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001639:Bicarbonates; D001831:Body Temperature; D003315:Cornea / Q000502:physiology* / Q000601:surgery* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004338:Drug Combinations; D005978:Glutathione; D006801:Humans; D007036:Hypothermia, Induced / Q000379:methods*; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009883:Ophthalmic Solutions; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000517:prevention & control; D011817:Rabbits; D054140:Refractive Surgical Procedures; D013552:Swine; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D001639:Bicarbonates; D004338:Drug Combinations; D009883:Ophthalmic Solutions; C013003:glutathione-bicarbonate-Ringer solution; D005978:Glutathione