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LASEK with hypertonic saline shows advantage over alcohol, study found
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The accuracy of laser epithelial keratomileusis using a hypertonic saline solution was similar to and sometimes superior to that of alcohol-assisted LASEK, according to a study in Israel. The rate of complications with the two procedures was similar, the study authors said.
Rossen Hazarbassanov, MD, and colleagues compared the predictability and safety of LASEK using hypertonic saline to loosen the epithelium (HS-LASEK) to LASEK using 20% alcohol (A-LASEK). In the study of 52 consecutive eyes of 26 patients, 30 were randomized to HS-LASEK and 22 to A-LASEK. Follow-up was at 1 and 5 days, 2 weeks and 1 month postoperative. Corneal topography and confocal microscopic examinations were performed before and 1 month after surgery.
Two weeks after surgery, 17 eyes in the HS-LASEK group (57%) and 10 eyes in the A-LASEK group (46%) were within 0.5 D of intended correction. At all follow-up times, the eyes in the HS-LASEK group had better best corrected visual acuity than those in the A-LASEK group. Uncorrected VA was similar between the two groups.
Both groups had epithelial defects after surgery, with 18 eyes in the HS-LASEK group (61%) and 12 eyes in the A-LASEK group (55%) being affected. The eyes in the HS-LASEK group had “significantly larger” epithelial defects, according to the researchers, but the defects resolved more quickly in that group. The researchers said subepithelial scarring was thicker in the A-LASEK eyes.
The study is published in the February issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.