1996•Journal of Cataract & Refractive SurgeryRequires access
Astigmatic change 1 year after excimer laser treatment of myopia and myopic astigmatism
Geoffrey Tabin, Noel Alpins, G F Aldred, Catherine A. McCarty, Hugh R. Taylor, Noel Alpins, Stephen Bambery, Saf Bassili, Anne Brooks, Stuart Brumley, Nick Downie, Ernest Finkelstein, Lionel Kowal, Pradeep Madhok, Bob McDonald, Robert Nave, Justin O’Day, Doug Reinehr, Joe Reich, Paul Rosen, Doug Roydhouse, Martin Samuel, Grant R. Snibson, Ron Stasiuk, John Sutton, Christine Tangas, Hugh R. Taylor, Michael J. Toohey, Harry Unger, Rodney N. Westmore, Rick Wolfe
Open publisher page 34 citations
Abstract
PURPOSE: To evaluate the surgically induced astigmatism (SIA) 1 year after excimer laser photorefractive astigmatic keratectomy (PARK) and photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). SETTING: Royal Victorian Ear and Eye Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. METHODS: This study comprised 333 PARK patients and 155 PRK patients treated with a VISX 20/20 excimer laser and followed prospectively for 12 months. Vector analysis of the change in astigmatism was used to calculate the SIA in the PRK group and the percentage of astigmatism corrected in the PARK group. RESULTS: Among patients with low cylinders astigmatic correction varied greatly, particularly in those treated for large amounts of myopia. The spherical PRK treatments yielded a mean induced postoperative astigmatism of 0.47 diopter. There was a linear relationship between this inadvertent SIA and increasing myopia. CONCLUSION: Excimer laser surgery for myopia creates a low degree of random, unpredictable SIA that may be the result of irregular epithelial thickening during postoperative healing. This creates a background noise of astigmatic change upon which the targeted astigmatic correction is superimposed.