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LTK is safe, effective alternative to LASIK
The procedure is the treatment of choice for hyeropia and can be safely done after LASIK, a surgeon says.
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KOLOA, Hawaii — Laser thermal keratoplasty is a safe alternative to LASIK that involves fewer risks, according to R. Doyle Stulting, MD, PhD.
“I think that some patients tend to gravitate toward LTK because they want a safe alternative to LASIK. These patients are not in such a rush to get the ‘wow’ factor of good distance vision on the first postoperative day,” said Dr. Stulting, a professor of ophthalmology at Emory University.
Dr. Stulting feels LTK is a good treatment for hyperopia, he said in a symposium here supported by an educational grant from Sunrise Technologies in association with Hawaii 2001, the Royal Hawaiian Eye Meeting, sponsored by Ocular Surgery News in conjunction with the New England Eye Center.
“I think that LTK is going to become the procedure of choice for the treatment of lower hyperopia, and in particular for treating emmetropes who desire monovision. It’s going to do this because of its safety, its ease and repeatability,” he said.
Enhancements
According to Dr. Stulting, enhancements can easily be done when the refractive outcome is less than optimal.
“The way these are done is to target full correction, using two rings between the initially placed spots,” he said.
It is also possible to perform LTK after other procedures.
“LASIK and [photorefractive keratectomy] certainly do not preclude LTK, and LTK is a good way to en hance overcorrected, myopic LASIK patients,” Dr. Stulting said. “We do not recommend LTK for enhancing [radial keratotomy] because of the chance of splaying incisional scars open from the original RK wounds.”
If LTK is performed after LASIK, it should be done with lower power settings than normal, he said.
“Overseas investigators have re ported that the effect is significantly greater in patients who have had LASIK than it is in virgin eyes, probably because the cornea is thinner and there is a horizontal incision (the flap) that allows the cornea to respond more significantly to corneal shrinkage,” he said.
Dr. Stulting recommended targeting only half of the existing hyperopia in previous LASIK patients and considering only a single ring of treatment.
For Your Information:
- R. Doyle Stulting, MD, PhD, can be reached at Emory Vision Correction Center, 4170 Ashwood Dunwoody Rd., 3rd Floor, Atlanta, GA 30319; (404) 250-1505; fax: (404) 250-9006. Dr. Stulting is a paid consultant for Sunrise Technologies.
- Sunrise Technologies can be reached at 3400 W. Warren Ave., Fremont, CA 94538; (510) 771-2389; fax: (510) 771-2292; website: www.sunrise.md.