Aphakic refractive penetrating keratoplasty using newborn donor corneas. A preliminary report on an alternative approach to refractive correction.

Eyes with corneal disease receiving transplants from premature, full gestational newborns or postnatal donors yield refractive results with a myopic shift. When the donor cornea is from a newborn (40-41 week gestation) this myopic shift was sufficient to correct 5 of 7 aphakic eyes to an average postsurgical refraction of -1.0 diopter (spher equiv). One premature cornea gave -6.0 diopters while six postnatal infant corneas gave an average correction of +8.6 diopters (spher equiv). The steep corneal curvature resulting from surgery explains the additional refractive power noted. The surgical difficulties encountered and the unknown long-term results auger for a slow and controlled introduction of this concept into our everyday practices.