Purpose: To study the effects of mitomycin-C (MMC) on the corneal endothelium after pterygium surgery.
Methods: Prospective, interventional, nonrandomized, observer-masked study. Twenty patients (20 eyes) with primary pterygium underwent surgery with pterygium simple excision followed by 0.02% MMC application for 1 minute. Preoperative, 10-day, 1-month and 3-month postoperative specular microscopy were performed. Mean cell density, coefficient of variation of mean cell area and percentage of hexagonal cells were measured.
Results: Mean endothelial cell densities before and 3 months after surgery were 2,240.37 SD 347.92 cells/mm2 (range: 1,020 to 2,703) and 2,283.86 SD 425.13 cells/mm2 (range: 1,001 to 2,837), respectively. Mean coefficient of variation before and 3 months after surgery were 32.63 SD 4.65 (range: 22 to 48) and 33.00 SD 4.75 (range: 23 to 51), respectively. Mean percentage of hexagonal cells before and 3 months after surgery were 54.58 SD 6.60 (range: 46 to 71) and 55.26 SD 8.89 (range: 38 to 76), respectively. No statistically significant differences were found in any of the parameters studied when compared to the preoperative values.
Conclusions: A single intraoperative application of 0.02% MMC for 1 minute during pterygium simple excision surgery does not seem to cause substantial changes in corneal endothelial cell density at 3 months.