A contralateral eye study comparing characteristics of corneal endothelial cells in bilateral keratoconus patients with unilateral corneal Vogt's striae.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze and compare corneal endothelial cell morphology and characteristics in bilateral keratoconus (KCN) patients with unilateral Vogt's striae.

Methods: Fifty patients aged 20-38 years were recruited in this cross-sectional contralateral eye study. In this study, corneal endothelial cell parameters were evaluated in patients with bilateral KCN and unilateral Vogt's striae using the Topcon SP2000P specular microscope (Topcon, Tokyo, Japan).

Results: In the current study, there were no significant differences in corneal endothelial cell parameters including endothelial cell density (ECD), hexagonal cell ratio (HEX), and coefficient of variance of cell size (CV) between the KCN groups with and without Vogt's striae, [(2968.34 ± 276.65 vs. 2980.05 ± 253.30,  = 0.618), (51.88 ± 13.57 vs. 53.24 ± 9.31,  = 0.658), and (32.50 ± 5.40 vs. 32.97 ± 4.07,  = 0.467), respectively]. Also, among study groups with and without Vogt's striae, ECD did not correlate with anterior chamber depth (ACD) [( = 0.564, r = 0.09), ( = 0.219, r = -0.18), respectively], maximum keratometry (Kmax) [( = 0.215, r = 0.18), ( = 0.898, r = 0.02), respectively], and central corneal thickness (CCT) [( = 0.989, r = -0.02), ( = 0.643, r = -0.07), respectively].Our results showed significant differences in corrected and uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), cycloplegic refractive error components (calculated by vectorial analysis), CCT, and Kmax between two study groups (all  < 0.05) except for J (Jackson cross cylinder, axes at 45 and 135°) ( = 0.131).

Conclusions: We were not able to find the statistically significant differences in ECD, HEX, and CV between KCN eyes with and without Vogt's striae. Despite clinical and tomographic results, it seems that Vogt's striae cannot cause deterioration in the corneal endothelial morphology.