ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The quality of the postoperative corneal epithelia of patients with severe ocular surface disorders, whose ocular surface had been reconstructed through deep lamellar sclerokeratoplasty (DLSKP) using allografts, was examined. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Six eyes with ocular surface disorders in 6 patients who had received DLSKP were observed for periods of 2 years or longer (average: 3 years and 10 months). The rehabilitated corneal epithelium cells of some of these patients were analyzed with impression cytology and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis methods. RESULTS: All 3 cases analyzed using the impression cytology method showed normal corneal epithelium cell forms. In the 2 cases analyzed also with the FISH analysis method, in which the hosts and donors were of the opposite gender, the cells were host-derived (99.3% and 98.8%). CONCLUSION: It is considered that rehabilitation of severe ocular surface disorders using allograft epithelial transplantation procedures, including DL-SKP, is eventually concluded by transdifferentiation of the conjunctival epithelium cells derived from the host.