Effect on corneal endothelial cell count of traumatic microhyphaema and hyphaema.

PURPOSE: This study investigates changes in the corneal endothelial count in patients after non-penetrating ocular trauma (NPOT) with associated microhyphaema or hyphaema.

METHODS

A total of 48 patients were recruited and divided into grade 1 (microhyphaema) and grade 2 (hyphaema) injury groups. Both central and inferior corneal endothelial counts were measured with specular microscopy.

RESULTS

Neither central nor inferior corneal endothelial counts on the injured eye showed significant decrease compared to the normal contralateral eye across the two injury groups. The mean cell count of the central cornea of the hyphaema group showed a drop of 1.9% compared to the normal controls.

CONCLUSION

The duration and severity of non-penetrating ocular trauma with microhyphaema or hyphaema did not appear to show a statistically significant loss in corneal endothelial cell count compared to the normal control.