The Use of Donor Corneas Which Have Undergone Refractive Surgery in Keratoplasty

Due to the rapid developments in techniques and devices used in refractive surgery, these surgeries are applied to more than before and different techniques are emerging every day. Laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK), photorefractive keratectomy(PRK) and radial keratotomy(RK) are the procedures performed most frequently. Eye Bank Association of America medical standards do not permit corneas from patients who have undergone refractive procedures to be used in penetrating keratoplasty, anterior lamellar keratoplasty, or tectonic grafting procedures. But these standards allow these corneas for endothelial keratoplasty. According to these standards identification of these corneas iscritical and studies for identification methods are going on. Several case reports have highlighted the difficulty in using postrefractive surgery corneas in penetrating keratoplasty. However, these corneas have been used successfully for endothelial keratoplasty with equivalent outcomes in topography, endothelial cell count, and visual acuity. The increase in endothelial keratoplasty procedures and the successful results of endothelial keratoplasty with postrefractive corneas are promising.