Correlation between epithelial healing rate and initial wound size in contact lens-induced central epithelial abrasion

Abstract

A correlation between individual epithelial healing rate and corresponding initial wound size was evaluated in 12 cases of contact lens- induced central epithelial abrasion. A fluorescein-stained epithelial defect area was photodocumented using a photo-slit lamp at about 6- to 12- hour intervals and measured by a computer-assisted image analyzer. The range of initial epithelial defect size varied from 4.8 to 47.3 mm 2 and the epithelial healing rates calculated by linear regression differed from 0.144 to 1.128 mm 2/h. However, the epithelial healing rate (y, mm 2/h) was found to be linearly correlated with the initial wound size (x, mm 2), i.e. y = 0.019x + 0.186 (r = 0.88). This result indicates that an epithelial healing rate can be estimated by the initial epithelial defect size by applying this formula in contact lens-induced central corneal abrasion.