LASIK useful for ametropia following RK, AK

MUNICH, Germany — LASIK can correct residual ametropia in eyes that have had previous radial or astigmatic keratotomy, according to a presentation here.

Hamid Khakshoor, MD, and Elham Froozanfar, MD, of the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran, evaluated LASIK for correcting residual myopia and astigmatism in eyes that had previously undergone RK or combined RK and AK. They presented their results in a poster here at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting.

To be included in the study, patients had to show good healing of the incisions, absence of epithelial cysts and fibrosis and absence of corneal ectasia.

Sixteen eyes of 11 patients were included, with an average patient age of 36. All patients had undergone RK at least 1 year before undergoing LASIK correction. Four eyes had undergone both RK and AK, and the remaining eyes had RK alone. Visual acuity and refraction were evaluated preoperatively and at 1 day, 1 and 6 months and 1 year.

There was an average improvement in vision from 3/10 preop to 11/10 at 6 months postop. No significant change in refraction was seen at 1-year follow-up, and no major ocular complications occurred, the authors said.