ArticleInvestigative ophthalmology & visual science2021
Corneal Keratocyte Density and Corneal Nerves Are Reduced in Patients With Severe Obesity and Improve After Bariatric Surgery.
Article in Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comorbidity Associations with Ocular Pain after Cataract Surgery: Overall and Sex-Stratified Analysis.AJO international · 2026Article
- Effects of metabolic and bariatric surgery on corneal and lens densitometry.BMC ophthalmology · 2026Article
- Obesity negatively impacts corneal nerves in patients with diabetes mellitus.Eye and vision (London, England) · 2025Article
- Evaluation of the Effect of Body Mass Index and Waist Circumference on Ocular Health Parameters in Children and Adolescents.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Impact of Obesity and Age on Mouse Corneal Innervation at the Epithelial-Stromal Interface.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2024Article
- Neuropathy 10-15 years after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for severe obesity: A community-controlled nerve conduction study.Clinical neurophysiology practice · 2024Article
- Article
- Case report: Nerve fiber regeneration in children with melanocortin 4 receptor gene mutation related obesity treated with semaglutide.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- In vivo corneal confocal microscopy as a non-invasive test to assess obesity induced small fibre nerve damage and inflammation.Eye (London, England) · 2023Observational
- How Does Weight Loss After Bariatric Surgery Impact the Ocular Parameters? A Review.Obesity surgery · 2023Review
- A Low-Fat/Sucrose Diet Rich in Complex Carbohydrates Reverses High-Fat/Sucrose Diet-Induced Corneal Dysregulation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- The Peripheral Neuropathy Prevalence and Characteristics Are Comparable in People with Obesity and Long-Duration Type 1 Diabetes.Advances in therapy · 2022Article
- Bilateral corneal perforation caused by neurotrophic keratopathy associated with leprosy: a case report.BMC ophthalmology · 2022Article
- Diabetic Corneal Neuropathy: Pathogenic Mechanisms and Therapeutic Strategies.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Review
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Purpose: Obesity is associated with peripheral neuropathy, which bariatric surgery may ameliorate. The aim of this study was to assess whether corneal confocal microscopy can show a change in corneal nerve morphology and keratocyte density in subjects with severe obesity after bariatric surgery. Methods: Twenty obese patients with diabetes (n = 13) and without diabetes (n = 7) underwent assessment of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), lipids, IL-6, highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and corneal confocal microscopy before and 12 months after bariatric surgery. Corneal nerve fiber density (CNFD), corneal nerve branch density (CNBD), corneal nerve fiber length (CNFL), and keratocyte density (KD) from the anterior, middle, and posterior stroma were quantified. Twenty-two controls underwent assessment at baseline only. Results: CNFL (P < 0.001), CNBD (P < 0.05), and anterior (P < 0.001), middle (P < 0.001), and posterior (P < 0.001) keratocyte densities were significantly lower in obese patients compared to controls, and anterior keratocyte density (AKD) correlated with CNFL. Twelve months after bariatric surgery, there were significant improvements in body mass index (BMI; P < 0.001), HDL cholesterol (P < 0.05), hsCRP (P < 0.001), and IL-6 (P < 0.01). There were significant increases in CNFD (P < 0.05), CNBD (P < 0.05), CNFL (P < 0.05), and anterior (P < 0.05) and middle (P < 0.001) keratocyte densities. The increase in AKD correlated with a decrease in BMI (r = -0.55, P < 0.05) and triglycerides (r = -0.85, P < 0.001). There were no significant correlations between the change in keratocyte densities and corneal nerve fiber or other neuropathy measures. Conclusions: Corneal confocal microscopy demonstrates early small fiber damage and reduced keratocyte density in obese patients. Bariatric surgery leads to weight reduction and improvement in lipids and inflammation and an improvement in keratocyte density and corneal nerve regeneration.
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