One-Step Transepithelial Topography-Guided Ablation in the Treatment of Myopic Astigmatism. e66618

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 8; no. 6
• Main Authors: Stojanovic, Aleksandar, Chen, Shihao, Chen, Xiangjun, Stojanovic, Filip, Zhang, Jia, Zhang, Ting, Utheim, Tor Paaske
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.06.2013
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0066618

Purpose To evaluate one-step topography-guided transepithelial ablation in the treatment of low to moderate myopic astigmatism using a 1KHz excimer laser. Methods Retrospective study of 117 consecutive eyes available for evaluation 12 months after surgery. Pre- and post-operative visual and refractive data as well as post-operative pain and haze were analyzed. A novel technique integrating custom refractive- and epithelial- ablation in a single uninterrupted procedure was used. Results The mean pre-operative spherical equivalent (SE) and the mean cylinder were: -3.22 diopters (D) plus or minus 1.54 (SD) (range -0.63 to -7.25 D) and -0.77 D plus or minus 0.65 (range 0 to -4.50 D), respectively. At 12 months after surgery: no eyes lost greater than or equal to 2 lines of corrected distant visual acuity (CDVA). Safety and efficacy indexes were 1.27 and 1.09, respectively. Uncorrected distant visual acuity (UDVA) was greater than or equal to 20/20 in 96.6% of the eyes. Manifest refraction spherical equivalent was within plus or minus 0.5 D of the desired refraction in 93.2% of the eyes. Average root mean square (RMS) wavefront error measured at central 6 mm, increased from 0.38 pre-operatively to 0.47 mu m post-operatively. Refractive stability was achieved and sustained 1 month after surgery. No visually significant haze was registered during the observation period. Post-operative pain was reported in 4.5% of patients. Conclusions One-step transepithelial topography-guided treatment for low to moderate myopia and astigmatism performed with a 1 KHz laser, provided safe, effective, predictable and stable results with low pain and no visually significant haze.