Specular microscopic studies of the corneal endothelia of Japanese diabetics.

ABSTRACT

We did a specular microscopic study with computer-assisted morphometric analysis of individual cells on the corneal endothelia of 69 Japanese diabetics and 53 age-matched nondiabetics. No statistically significant differences were seen in the mean cell areas of diabetics and nondiabetics. However, the coefficient of variation of cell area was significantly higher and the percentage of hexagonal cells was significantly lower in diabetics than in nondiabetics. Although racial differences of the corneal endothelia exist between Japanese and Americans, diabetic changes are quite similar in the two populations.