Purpose
Wound healing evaluation in the postoperative of sclerotomy. It was performed after the crosslink technique on the rabbit eyes. The hypothesis: Crosslink technique could stabilize the sclerotomy incision more and improve the sclerotomy cicatrization.<br /> <br /> <!--EndFragment-->
Methods
Study Design: Experimental. Therapy procedure chosen for the Right eye (sclerotomy plus crosslink technique) and control procedure chosen for the left eye (sclerotomy only). Animals Treated: Three male New Zealand rabbits. The Crosslink technique: UVA Emission of 370 nm with a surface irradiance of 3 mW/cm² and application of Riboflavin drops for 30 minutes. This procedure was performed on the right eye at 2 mm from the limbus. Sclerotomy procedure with 23 gauge incision was performed at 2mm from the limbus in both right (on the treated area) and left eye. Thirty days after surgery, an evaluation with slit lamp biomicroscopy and morphological analysis were performed and compared, the right sclerotomy cicatrization to the left sclerotomy.<br /> The morphological Analysis: evaluation of sclerotomy wound healing (closed or opened).<br /> The histological analysis with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and Picrosirius-Red staining (PR). Final evaluation analyzed collagen fibers density on the sclerotomy wound incision. Image pro plus software was used.
Results
The Morphological Analysis: Right eye - All samples presented sclerotomy closure. In two cases the incision edges revealed almost no evidence. Left eye - All samples presented the sclerotomy closure and the incision edges were evident .<br /> The Histological Analysis: Right and Left eye - HE staining - in the incision of all samples there were no evidence of immflamatory cells. PR staining revealed no evidence of collagen fibers type III in the wound healing process of sclerotomy in both eyes (figure 1 a,b). Image pro plus revealed a higher collagen fiber density in the Right eye .
Conclusions
The scleral wound healing happened in a tissue with poor vascular support and with low incidence of new collagen fibers in the scaring process thirty days after surgery. So, the crosslink technique seems to stabilize the sclerotomy incision and help the scaring process. It could be a good factor to improve sclerotomy cicatrization.