Abstract

EFFECT OF SMOKING ON CENTRAL CORNEAL THICKNESS AND CORNEAL ENDOTHELIAL CELL COUNT

Alya Abood Kareem Alajeeli* and Hayder Hussein Ali Al-Ahmad

ABSTRACT

Background: the smoke of cigarrete diminishes the perfusion of tissues and damages the autoregulation of the vessels because of its adrenergic effects so that the cells of the tissues of the body undergo ischemic changes. Corneal endothelial cells supposed to be changed with this effects. Purpose: the aim is to study the smoking effect on the central corneal thickness and the corneal endothelial cell count. Method: specular microscopy with no contact to the cornea was applied on 75 smokers eyes and 75 non smokers eyes who met the inclusion criteria The parameters studied were the central thickness of the cornea and its endothelial cell count. The study was done at Ibn- Alhaytham teaching eye hospital from October 2020 to March 2021. Results: 75 participants with mean age of 33.57± 10.34 years were included in the non- smoker group and 75 participants with mean age of 33.80± 9.21 years were included in the smoker group. Statistical analysis showed no significant difference between the nonsmoker and smoker groups in the term of age as p value was more than 0.05.The difference between the mean of central corneal thickness of the nonsmoker group (539.48± 23.49 μm) and smoker group (535.91±26.39 μm) was non significant statistically as p value was more than 0.05.The difference between the mean of corneal endothelial cell density of the non-smoker group (3048.0± 222.23 cell / mm²) and the smoker group (2807.59± 390.72 cell/mm²) was statistically significant as p value was less than 0.05. Conclusion: our results suggest that cigarettes smoking seems to reduce the corneal endothelial cell density.

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