Corneal nerve regeneration after herpes simplex keratitis: A longitudinal in vivo confocal microscopy study

To evaluate the long-term alterations of corneal nerves in patients with herpes simplex virus (HSV) keratitis using in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM). Prospective, longitudinal, cross sectional. This study included 16 patients with a history of HSV keratitis and 15 age-matched normal controls. Slit-scanning IVCM was performed in all subjects at baseline and then after a mean follow-up of 37.3 ± 1.7 months in the patient group. Corneal subbasal nerve density and corneal sensation were compared between groups at baseline and follow-up. At baseline, the mean subbasal nerve density was significantly lower in both affected eyes (1.4 ± 0.6 mm/mm2) and contralateral unaffected eyes (6.4 ± 0.7 mm/mm2) compared with the controls (14.1 ± 1.6 mm/mm2; all P