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Neurodeprivation after LASIK is known to be responsible for different degrees of dry eye and neutrotrophic keratopathy.1--5 Both may cause patient discomfort and variable levels of visual impairment during the postoperative period. Although there are considerable individual variations, the recovery of corneal sensitivity after LASIK has a direct relation to the potential regeneration of sub-basal nerve plexus. 6
Blood derivates such as autologous serum or a special preparation for topical eye application of platelet-rich plasma (E-PRP) have shown to be powerful therapeutic tools in accelerating the healing response of different tissues, particularly PRP.6,7 This enhancing effect is attributed to the growth factors and bioactive proteins that are synthesized and present in blood. Some articles published by our group have demonstrated the value of PRP to promote the healing of dormant corneal ulcerative defects of different etiologies and the reduction of symptoms and punctuate keratopathy in the moderate to severe dry eye and even neurotrophic keratopathy after LASIK. 8,9
The exciting results obtained when treating neurotrophic corneal ulcers and the recent evidence of the ability of PRP to promote neural regeneration10--18 led us to postulate whether using PRP eye drops after LASIK could promote sub-basal nerve plexus regeneration. To our knowledge, this aspect has not been previously investigated.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect that E-PRP has on the recovery of corneal sensitivity after LASIK and in the anatomical recovery of the sub-basal corneal plexus as studied by confocal microscopy.
Patients and Methods
A randomized, consecutive, controlled, prospective and masked study was conducted on patients who attended our institution between January and August 2010 and underwent LASIK for myopia or myopic astigmatism. To be included in this investigation, all patients had to be able to understand and agree to a specific informed consent. The study was designed and conducted following the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and was previously approved by the ethical committee of VISSUM Alicante, Spain.
The study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of autologous PRP eye drops for the recovery of corneal sensitivity and sub-basal nerve plexus regeneration after LASIK. The main variables of the study were the increase in corneal sensitivity estimated by the Cochet-Bonet aesthesiometer (Luneau, Paris, France) and the aspect...