Wavefront-guided LASIK shows better results than conventional LASIK in night driving simulator

BERLIN — Wavefront-guided LASIK patients performed better in a night driving simulator test than those who underwent conventional LASIK, a retrospective review of two prospective studies found.

"Average night driving performance was reduced after conventional LASIK and improved after wavefront-guided," Steven C. Schallhorn, MD, said here at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting. "There was a significant loss in a fair number of eyes with conventional and a low percentage with wavefront-guided."

Dr. Schallhorn and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of two studies. One examined 100 low to moderate myopia patients who underwent wavefront-guided LASIK, 21 of whom took the night driving simulator test, and the other examined 498 low to moderate myopia patients who underwent conventional LASIK, 44 of whom took the same test.

The driving test simulated driving at 55 miles per hour on a rural road at night, Dr. Schallhorn said.

He and colleagues found that there was a significant loss in conventional LASIK eyes of 38% to 42%, whereas wavefront-guided LASIK eyes had a loss of up to 3%. There was an improvement in conventional LASIK eyes of 6% to 13% and in wavefront-guided eyes from 18% to 46%, he said.