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Surface ablation mitigates RK-induced refractive error
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NEW ORLEANS — Laser surface ablation can safely correct refractive error associated with RK, surgeons reported in a poster presentation at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting here.
LASEK and epi-LASIK combined with a dose of mitomycin-C effectively treated refractive errors after RK with no complications, according to an AAO news release summarizing the poster.
"This gives new hope to patients who have had RK and have developed problems," presenting author Navaneet S.C. Borisuth, MD, PhD, said in the release. "Most refractive surgeons would shy away from these patients because we were not able to deliver the results that they expected. Now, with this refinement, we can deliver a very good quality of vision for our RK patients."
Other surgeons' attempts to correct hyperopia with PRK or LASIK were often unsuccessful and led to complications, the release said.
In a prospective study, Dr. Borisuth and colleagues analyzed 20 eyes with hyperopic or myopic astigmatism after 8– or 16-cut RK.
After surface ablation with MMC, mean uncorrected visual acuity improved from 0.66 D ± 0.43 D to 0.4 D ± 0.15 D (P = .0001). Best corrected visual acuity improved by two lines in seven eyes (35%) and remained unchanged in 10 eyes (50%). No patients had BCVA worse than 0.18 D, and 95.5% of patients had corrected vision within 1 D of the target refraction.
Three eyes developed haze, the authors reported.