Lamellar Keratoplasty Combined with Amniotic Membrane Transplantation for the Treatment of Corneal Perforations: A Clinical and In Vivo Confocal Microscopy Study

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical and in vivo confocal microscopy outcome of lamellar keratoplasty combined with amniotic membrane transplantation for the treatment of corneal perforations. METHODS: In this retrospective, noncomparative, and interventional case series, 13 eyes of 13 patients with corneal perforation were included. All eyes were treated with lamellar keratoplasty combined with amniotic membrane transplantation for corneal reconstruction. Age, underlying etiology, location, size of corneal ulcer, size of corneal perforation, hospitalization days and follow-up time, and corneal confocal microscopy were investigated. Aqueous leakage, anterior chamber formation, epithelial healing time, and visual acuity (VA) were monitored after operation. RESULTS: The cause of corneal perforation (n = 13) was classified as infectious (n = 13) was classified as infectious (n = 13) was classified as infectious ( CONCLUSION: Lamellar keratoplasty combined with amniotic membrane transplantation may be an alternative, safe, and effective surgical therapy in the treatment of corneal perforations in the absence of a fresh donor cornea. We recommend this surgery to treat with the size of corneal perforation of <4 mm in diameter no matter peripheral or central corneal perforation, especially who had immune-related diseases.