Differences found in epithelial ingrowth between early, late stages

Clinical appearance and histopathology of epithelial ingrowth from LASIK flap margins differ in early and late stages, a study has found. This might reflect proliferative activity of the lesions, researchers said.

Naoko Asano-Kato, MD, PhD, and colleagues examined five epithelial ingrowth specimens from four patients 2 to 17 months after their initial LASIK treatments. After the lesions were surgically removed, they were examined using light and transmission electron microscopy.

The researchers said that early epithelial ingrowth was clinically observed as faint opacities with demarcation lines and epithelial pearls. Late epithelial ingrowth was seen as homogeneous whitish masses. Histopathologically, they saw that early ingrowth consisted of multilayered squamous epithelium that resembled normal corneal epithelium, and late ingrowth was made up of clumps containing amorphous materials with scarce cellular elements.

This study was published in The Journal of Cornea and External Disease.