ABSTRACT
Patients with underlying systemic disease represent challenging treatment dilemma to the refractive surgeon. The refractive error in this patient population is accompanied by a systemic disease that may have an ocular or even a corneal component. The literature is rather sparse about the use of laser refractive surgery [LRS] and such procedure is not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration [FDA] in this patient population. Patients with collagen vascular disease, diabetes mellitus [DM], allergic and atopic disease, or human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] are never ideal for LRS. Patients with uncontrolled systemic disease or ocular involvement of the disease should not undergo LRS. However, a patient with well-controlled and mild disease, no ocular involvement, and not on multidrug regimen may be a suitable candidate if they meet stringent criteria. There is a need for a large, multicenter, controlled trial to address the safety and efficacy of LRS in patients with systemic disease before such technology can be widely adopted by the refractive surgery community