Abstract
Four young male patients with keratoconus had traumatic dehiscence of the surgical wound after penetrating keratoplasty. Two were rendered aphakic by the trauma, and in one patient the lens was dislocated posteriorly. In each case the dehiscence was repaired by resuturing the original corneal graft. Despite marked corneal oedema in the immediate postoperative period all four grafts deturgesced and subsequently cleared. The follow-up has been a minimum of 23 months. We recommend therefore primary resuturing of traumatic wound dehiscence after keratoplasty, anterior vitrectomy if the lens dislodged, and prophylactic antibiotics postoperatively. The clearing of the initially oedematous grafts in each case illustrates the resilience of the corneal endothelium.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Arentsen J. J., Morgan B., Green W. R. Changing indications for keratoplasty. Am J Ophthalmol. 1976 Mar;81(3):313–318. doi: 10.1016/0002-9394(76)90246-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Binder P. S., Abel R., Jr, Polack F. M., Kaufman H. E. Keratoplasty wound separations. Am J Ophthalmol. 1975 Jul;80(1):109–115. doi: 10.1016/0002-9394(75)90880-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bourne W. M., O'Fallon W. M. Endothelial cell loss during penetrating keratoplasty. Am J Ophthalmol. 1978 Jun;85(6):760–766. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9394(14)78102-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Brown S. I., Tragakis M. P. Wound dehiscence with keratoplasty: complication of the continuous-suture technique. Am J Ophthalmol. 1971 Jul 30;72(1):115–116. doi: 10.1016/0002-9394(71)91598-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Eagling E. M. Perforating injuries of the eye. Br J Ophthalmol. 1976 Nov;60(11):732–736. doi: 10.1136/bjo.60.11.732. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Friedman A. H. Late traumatic wound rupture following successful partial penetrating keratoplasty. Am J Ophthalmol. 1973 Jan;75(1):117–120. doi: 10.1016/0002-9394(73)90660-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gasset A. R., Dohlman C. H. The tensile strength of corneal wounds. Arch Ophthalmol. 1968 May;79(5):595–602. doi: 10.1001/archopht.1968.03850040597020. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Polack F. M., Binder P. S. Detachment of Descemet's membrane from grafts following wound separation: light and scanning electron microscopic study. Ann Ophthalmol. 1975 Jan;7(1):47–54. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Raber I. M., Arentsen J. J., Laibson P. R. Traumatic wound dehiscence after penetrating keratoplasty. Arch Ophthalmol. 1980 Aug;98(8):1407–1409. doi: 10.1001/archopht.1980.01020040259009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]