Fig. 7.

Defective epithelial basement membrane regeneration in corneas with stromal haze after PRK. (A) In a rabbit cornea at one month after −4.5D PRK that did not develop significant stromal haze there is normal regeneration of the epithelial basement membrane (arrows) with the lamina lucida and lamina densa clearly visible with transmission electron microscopy, as it is in the normal unwounded corneas (not shown). The black arrowhead indicates a keratocyte in the stroma (s). (B) At one month after PRK for high myopia (−9D), in a rabbit cornea that developed severe stromal haze, there is defective regeneration of the epithelial basement membrane with no visible lamina lucida or lamina densa. White arrowheads indicate layers of myofibroblasts with large amounts of rough endoplasmic reticulum and the Xs indicate disordered extracellular matrix these cells secrete in the anterior stroma (s). e indicates epithelium in both panels. Magnification 23,000X