Evaluation of corneal endothelial morphology in type 2 diabetes mellitus with specular microscopy

Aim: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the corneal endothelium using a specular microscopy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Material and Methods: The right eyes of 30 DM patients without any ocular findings, 30 DM patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), and 30 DM patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) were evaluated in the study. Cell density (cells/mm(2)), corneal thickness (mu), hexagonal cell ratio (%), and coefficient of variation (cell area standard deviation/mean cell area, mu m(2)) of the corneal endothelium of these patients were assessed with a specular microscope. Results: There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of corneal thickness. While there was no significant difference between the control group and the group with NPDR in terms of endothelial cell density, hexagonality and coefficient of variation, a significant difference was found between the PDR group and both the control and NPDR groups. Discussion: Since we found that disease progression leads to deterioration in corneal endothelial morphology in type 2 DM patients, we believe that it is important to try to prevent disease progression by controlling the blood glucose levels and using specular microscopy during follow-up and treatment in these patients.