title: Symptomatic management of postoperative bullous keratopathy with nonpreserved human amniotic membrane.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report the results of the management of painfully symptomatic postoperative bullous keratopathy (PBK) by performing a nonpreserved human amniotic membrane (NP-AMT) transplantation in nine eyes with poor visual potential.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective, comparative, nonrandomized management of symptomatic PBK was done by performing a complete corneal de-epithelialization followed by a NP-AMT transplantation (NP-AMT group) or no NP-AMT transplantation (control group). We evaluated time for re-epithelialization, patient's symptoms, and appearance of new bullae.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the NP-AMT group, mean follow-up time was 40 weeks. Mean re-epithelialization time was 11.2 days. Symptoms of PBK resolved completely in eight patients (88%), who were asymptomatic and showing very quiet eyes from postoperative day 1, and resolved partially in one patient in whom we observed barely symptomatic bullae at the peripheral NP-AMT border (sixth postoperative week) and an asymptomatic one at the corneal center under the NP-AMT (seventh postoperative week). In the control group, mean follow-up time was 18 weeks; there were recurrences of symptomatic bullae in four of five patients at a mean time of 6.3 days.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NP-AMT is a good alternative for the management of painful PBK in eyes with poor visual potential; NP-AMT is widely available, the technique is easy to perform, and it has good results from both the symptomatic and esthetic standpoint.
authors.affiliation: Cornea Service Instituto de Ciencias de la Salud-CES Medellín, Colombia. lfmejia@epm.net.co
authors.forename: Luis F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Mejía
authors.forename: Juan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Santamaría
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Acosta
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000650:Amnion / Q000637:transplantation*; D001684:Biological Dressings; D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000009:adverse effects; D003316:Corneal Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014021:Tissue Preservation; D016896:Treatment Outcome