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Location of epithelial ingrowth needs to be considered before flap lift
Location of epithelial ingrowth should be considered before patients undergo flap lift surgery, according to a study.
The retrospective chart review analyzed 45 consecutive eyes of 39 patients who underwent flap lift for epithelial ingrowth after LASIK.
After flap lift and scraping, 78% of eyes achieved corrected distance visual acuity of 0.06 logMAR by the 3-month follow-up. Eight eyes required more than one flap lift and scraping.
Central ingrowth location was the only factor to significantly affect visual acuity. At 1 month, there was a 12-fold increased risk of having corrected distance visual acuity worse than 20/25 (P = .003), with a similar trend noted at 3 months (P = .08). Ingrowth at this location also increased the risk of having uncorrected distance visual acuity worse than 20/25 at 1 month (P = .02) and 3 months (P= .05).
Infection (P = .04) and the use of a microkeratome for initial LASIK (P = .04) significantly increased the risk of recurrence of epithelial ingrowth after flap lift.
“Patients undergoing flap lift and scraping for the treatment of epithelial ingrowth have a relatively high rate of recurrence, but most of these patients ultimately have good visual acuity outcomes,” the study authors said.