Analysis of corneal esthesia in patients undergoing photorefractive keratectomy

Purpose: To quantitatively analyze corneal esthesia in patients undergoing photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) surgery. Methods: Forty-five patients selected for PRK in one eye underwent corneal esthesia using a Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer preoperatively and 30 and 90 days postoperatively. Patients with a refractive diopter error of 4 or greater received intraoperative 0.02% mitomycin C for 20 s. Results: Twenty-four (53.3%) of the 45 eyes received intraoperative 0.02% mitomycin. Decreased sensitivity was observed on postoperative day 30. By postoperative day 90, corneal esthesia had normalized but remained 14.9% lower than preoperative levels. In the mitomycin group, no recovery of corneal esthesia to normal sensitivity levels was observed. The mean esthesiometer level was 39.2 mm on postoperative day 90 (P<0.001). Conclusions: The results of the present study demonstrate recovery of corneal esthesia to normal levels at 90 days postoperatively in patients who did not receive mitomycin C. In patients administered mitomycin C, a 23.59% reduction in the corneal touch threshold was observed compared with preoperative levels indicating a failure of recovery to normal levels.