Air and Gas Toxicity on the Corneal Endothelium

Abstract

Air and gas injection into anterior chamber of the eye during intraocular surgeries have been occasionally used by the ophthalmologists. However, these substances, in particular air bubbles, during an intraocular surgery may inevitably occur and lead to corneal endothelium damage. Up to now, many researchers have tried solutions, such as viscoelastic materials to overcome this problem. On the other hand, recent studies demonstrated that the viscoelastic materials alone might not be sufficient to prevent corneal endothelial insult. This paper is an overview of the researches related to air and gas toxicity on corneal endothelial damage.