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Questions surrounding post-LASIK ectasia persist
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 Joseph Colin |
ABU DHABI — Post-LASIK ectasia remains poorly understood, according to a specialist here.
"Why do so many patients develop ectasia in one eye and not in the contralateral eye, in spite of being treated with the same technique by the same surgeon?" Joseph Colin, MD, said at the World Ophthalmology Congress.
Additional questions posed by Dr. Colin about how ectasia develops included whether it is an abnormality of the corneal tissue such as excessive elasticity or an abnormal cross-linking of collagen, whether there is a correlation with keratocyte apoptosis possibly due to eye rubbing, or whether the corneal tissue is too thin, either intrinsically or due to excessively deep ablation.
Risk factors for ectasia such as forme fruste keratoconus, thin corneas or insufficient residual stromal bed are well known, but LASIK has been performed in many of these cases without inducing ectasia, he said.
After raising these questions, Dr. Colin noted a study conducted in the U.K. on 64,695 LASIK-treated eyes, 11 of which developed ectasia.
"According to Randleman Risk Score criteria, 10 of these 11 patients were at a low to moderate risk of developing ectasia but yet did, while of the 1,552 high-risk patients, only one developed ectasia," he said.
- Disclosure: Dr. Colin has no relevant financial disclosures.