Corneal endothelial morphology after anterior chamber lens implantation.

The morphologic features of the corneal endothelium were investigated by means of regional wide-field specular microscopy and computer-assisted morphometry in 13 eyes of nine patients who had undergone intracapsular cataract extraction with anterior chamber lens implantation more than one year previously. The endothelial cells in these patients demonstrated a significant increase in cellular elongation and the coefficient of variation in mean cell area and a significant decrease in the percentage of hexagonal endothelial cells when compared with age-matched controls (ten eyes of ten patients). The clinical implications of these long-term morphologic changes are unknown, but the changes may be indicative of an unstable endothelium or may be an early sign of continuing cell loss.