Corneal Epithelial Changes in Eyes with Post-Traumatic Recurrent Corneal Erosion: Comparison with Fellow Eyes and Healthy Controls.

Purpose: To assess corneal epithelial thickness (ET) changes in affected and fellow eyes of patients with post-traumatic recurrent corneal erosions (RCE) and compare these with healthy age-matched controls.

Methods: This is a single-centre observational study involving retrospective data collection for patients presenting with traumatic RCE. ET maps were obtained at the follow-up visit once the erosion had healed. Data was recorded for affected (Group 1) and fellow eyes (Group 2) and for healthy age-matched control eyes (Group 3). The primary outcome measure was comparison of "E-Std Dev" values (variation in ET maps between the three groups). Secondary outcome measures were central ET, minimum ET, maximum ET, superior ET, inferior ET and E(min-max) values, and qualitative map assessment, which was performed by analysing the number of zones with thicknesses 60-70 µ and 70-80 µ.

Results: Thirty-three patients (66 eyes) and 33 age-matched healthy eyes were included. E-Std Dev values were highest values in Group 1 and lowest in Group 3 (4.65 ± 1.87 µ, 2.92 ± 1.16 µ and 1.94 ± 0.63 µ in Groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively) (p < 0.01). A similar trend was also noted for central ET (p < 0.01), maximum ET (p < 0.01), E(min-max) values (p = 0.03) and qualitative map assessment (p < 0.01). There were no significant inter-group differences for minimum ET (p = 0.05), superior ET {E-S (2-7)} (p = 0.45) and inferior ET {E-I (2-7)} (p = 0.68).

Conclusions: Variation and maximum ET were highest in the affected eyes. Even the fellow eyes showed higher values than healthy controls. This may suggest a predisposition of some patients to develop RCE after trauma.