Laser eye surgery recipients don’t suffer long-term effects on the cells inside their corneas, according to a study published in Archives of Ophthalmology, reported by HealthDay News.

The importance of the study’s findings is that corneas donated from laser eye surgery patients are suitable for use in surgical treatments (called posterior lamellar keratoplasty) to correct corneal problems, researchers said.

Mayo Clinic researchers examined the cells lining the corneas of 16 patients from pictures taken both before and nine years after their eye surgeries. Doctors had performed either photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) or laser in situ keratomileusis (Lasik) procedures on the patients.

Study researchers also compared the annual rate of corneal endothelial cell loss in the patients who received laser eye surgery with 42 people who didn’t have laser surgery.

Researchers found that the yearly rate of cell loss (0.6 percent) in laser eye surgery patients was the same as that of people who didn’t undergo the procedure. (Laser eye surgery patients did show, however, a reduced density of corneal endothelial cells nine years after the procedure.

Get the 411 on eye-related diseases in older women here.