Surgical do's and don'ts of corneal dystrophies.
OBJECTIVE
Characteristics of corneal dystrophies have been described with regards to such as location in the cornea, morphology, material composition, and recurrence after penetrating keratoplasty. The main goal of this review is to describe the surgical methods in treating corneal dystrophies.


RESULTS
Laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) has been shown to aggravate corneal deposits in Avellino dystrophy exacerbation LASIK and hence should be avoided. Phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) has shown its usefulness in clearing opacities with visual improvement and prevents painful erosion, resulting in delay or postponement of corneal grafting in some corneal dystrophies. Mitomycin-C may be used topically in conjunction with PTK to reduce the recurrence of the opacities. Topical use of antibody to TGF-beta can also be considered to suppress recurrence of corneal opacities after PTK or lamellar keratectomy.


CONCLUSIONS
Clinicians must become more adept at choosing a treatment depending on different genotypes and future studies on treatment of corneal dystrophies should be focused on establishing treatment of categorized corneal dystrophies based on their chromosomal mutation.
Lee
Eun Suk
ES
The Institute of Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kim
Eung Kweon
EK
D003317:Corneal Dystrophies, Hereditary / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D013508:Ophthalmologic Surgical Procedures