An investigation of corneal integrity in recreational divers.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the corneal integrity of recreational divers and non-divers.


METHODS
The cross-sectional study was conducted at the St. Erik s Eye Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, between September 2003 and February 2004. Questionnaires were randomly distributed to determine the potential diving and non-diving participants. After filling the questionnaires and giving informed consent, corneal endothelial photographs were obtained from the right eyes of the study participants (age range, 20-42 years). Aided and unaided visual acuities were obtained using the Snellen acuity chart.


RESULTS
One of the divers reported temporary blurred vision immediately after a diving session, which resolved 2 days later. The average median corneal endothelial cell size for the recreational divers was 14.3 microm2 larger than that of the non-divers (p=0.43), and the mean endothelial cell density was 95.7 cells/mm2 less than the non-divers (p=0.51).


CONCLUSIONS
There are no significant adverse permanent effect of diving on vision amongst the recreational divers. There is an indication of polymegethism and pleomorphism among the divers, however, no significant difference in the corneal morphology of the recreational divers and the non-divers. However, a further investigation with a larger sample size is needed to confirm this.
Oriowo
Matthew O
MO
Department of Optometry, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, PO Box 10219, Riyadh 11433, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. matoriowo@yahoo.com
D000328:Adult; D003315:Cornea / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004242:Diving; D006801:Humans; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D014792:Visual Acuity