Understanding of corneal wound healing plays an important role, not only in management of corneal infections, but especially in refractive surgery. A better control of wound healing mechanisms might improve the results of such resculpturing techniques and help to avoid complications arising from these procedures. While studies have been focused in different aspects of corneal wound healing, our knowledge has increased greatly during the last years. Many problems associated with corneal healing also contribute to clinical pathology following corneal surgery. Understanding of such conditions has been augmented by the continuously developing corneal imaging techniques. We have used in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) for assessing corneas subjected to refractive surgery as well as corneas with common complications resulting from such procedures. IVCM has become a powerful tool for examining corneal cells, nerves, inflammations and infections. It allows information to be acquired repeatedly and at subbiomicroscopic levels that earlier had been obtainable only by invasive microscopic methods. Pre-examining corneas preoperatively by IVCM in order to reveal diseases or conditions in which elective refractive surgical procedures should not be undertaken or to select the ideal operation technique may help to avoid complications in the future. Measurement of the thickness of corneal sublayers or estimation of the thickness of a laser in situ keratomileusis flap or wound bed are other applications in which confocal microscopy may be valuable. In this article we attempt to describe the in vivo confocal findings of common refractive procedures and their complications, and discuss their biology in light of the existing knowledge on wound healing phenomena.

中文翻译：

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体内共聚焦显微镜用于评估角膜屈光手术后的伤口愈合情况。

理解角膜伤口愈合不仅在处理角膜感染中，而且在屈光手术中尤其重要。更好地控制伤口愈合机制可能会改善这种重新塑形技术的效果，并有助于避免这些程序引起的并发症。虽然研究集中在角膜伤口愈合的不同方面，但在最近几年中，我们的知识有了很大的增长。与角膜愈合相关的许多问题也有助于角膜手术后的临床病理。不断发展的角膜成像技术增强了对这种状况的了解。我们已经使用了体内共聚焦显微镜（IVCM）来评估进行屈光手术的角膜以及因此类手术导致的常见并发症的角膜。IVCM已成为检查角膜细胞，神经，炎症和感染的有力工具。它允许以亚生物显微镜水平重复获取信息，而以前只能通过侵入式显微镜方法才能获得。IVCM术前对角膜进行预检查，以发现不应进行选择性屈光手术的疾病或状况，或选择理想的手术技术可能有助于避免将来发生并发症。角膜亚层厚度的测量或激光原位角膜磨镶术瓣或伤口床的厚度估计是共聚焦显微镜检查可能有价值的其他应用。在本文中，我们试图描述常见屈光手术的体内共聚焦发现及其并发症，