This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Corneal refractive therapy reduces mesopic contrast sensitivity more than LASIK
J Refract Surg. 2009;25(3):277-284.
LASIK and corneal refractive therapy similarly increased corneal and total higher-order aberrations, but corneal refractive therapy diminished mesopic contrast sensitivity more than LASIK, according to a study.
“The results of the present study indicate the optical quality of the eye and visual performance deteriorated more after [corneal refractive therapy] than after LASIK, and this should be considered when presenting the patient with the two emmetropization techniques,” the study authors said.
The retrospective study included 20 eyes of 11 patients who underwent corneal refractive therapy (CRT, Paragon Vision Sciences) and 22 eyes of 13 patients who underwent LASIK. The CRT patients had mean initial spherical equivalent refraction of –2.03 D and mean initial astigmatism of –0.35 D. The LASIK patients had mean preoperative spherical equivalent refraction of –2.3 D and mean initial astigmatism of –0.38 D.
Both groups were evaluated before treatment and 3 months after treatment.
At 3 months, mean residual refractive error was –0.09 D in the CRT group and –0.13 D in the LASIK group. The difference was not statistically significant. However, the CRT group had a sharper decline in binocular mesopic contrast sensitivity. The loss was attributed to greater interocular differences in corneal asphericity.