The cornea is a highly innervated tissue, exhibiting a complex nerve architecture, distribution, and structural organization. Significant contributions over the years have allowed us to come to the current understanding about the corneal nerves. Mechanical or chemical trauma, infections, surgical wounds, ocular or systemic comorbidities, can induce corneal neuroplastic changes. Consequently, a cascade of events involving the corneal wound healing, trophic functions, neural circuits, and the lacrimal product may interfere in the corneal homeostasis. The nerve subject drew attention due to the popularization of modern laser refractive surgery and the perception of the destructive potential of the excimer laser to the corneal nerve population. The nerve fiber loss can lead to symptoms that may impact the patient's quality of life, and impair the best-corrected vision, leading patients' and doctors' dissatisfaction. Therefore, there is a need to understand better preoperative signs of corneal nerve dysfunction, the postoperative mechanisms of nerve degeneration and recovery, aiming to achieve the most efficient way of treating nerve disorders related to refractive surgery.

角膜是高度神经支配的组织，表现出复杂的神经结构，分布和结构组织。多年来的重大贡献使我们对角膜神经有了最新的了解。机械或化学创伤，感染，手术伤口，眼部或全身性合并症均可诱发角膜神经塑性改变。因此，涉及角膜伤口愈合，营养功能，神经回路和泪液产物的一系列事件可能会干扰角膜稳态。由于现代激光屈光手术的普及以及受激准分子激光对角膜神经群的破坏潜力的认识，神经科受到了关注。神经纤维的丧失可能导致症状，从而影响患者的生活质量，并损害最佳矫正视力，导致患者和医生的不满。因此，需要了解更好的角膜神经功能异常的术前体征，神经变性和恢复的术后机制，以期获得治疗与屈光手术有关的神经疾病的最有效方法。