[State of the cornea after early surgery of congenital cataract with subsequent contact correction].

Eighteen cases (28 eyes) with congenital cataracts are analyzed. Transciliary lensectomy technique was used for cataract extraction (the ages of the infants at the moment of surgery varied from 3.5 to 16 months), aphakia was corrected by highly hydrophilic soft contact lenses worn during the daytime. The limbic vessels, corneal epithelium, endothelium, and thickness were examined. No changes in the epithelium were revealed. Only in one case a trend to a moderate dilatation of a limbic vessel in the upper segment was seen in the presence of microphthalmia. Analysis of endothelial morphometry data has revealed a universal tendency in all the cases: cell square increased and their density reduced (by 45 and 19%, respectively) immediately after surgery. Wearing of contact lenses was associated with a somewhat rise of the cell count, this count persisting below the norm by 10% on an average. Corneal thickness increased by 0.05 mm after surgery and by 0.03 mm during lens correction.