The Effects of Epikeratoplasty & Laser in Situ Keratomileusis(LASIK) for Correction of High Myopia

ABSTRACT

In order to compare the clinical results of Epikeratoplasty (EPK) with Laser in situ keratomileusis(LASIK) to be corrected of high myopia above -9 diopters, the effect of the procedure on 74 patients following EKP and 63 patients following LASIK who were followed up at least 1 year were analyzed retrospectively. Postoperative mean uncorrected visual acuity was reached 0.56 until 3 month in EKP group and 0.53 until 1 month in LASIK group. LASIK group recovered and stabilized more rapidly than EKP guoup(p<0.01). Also LASIK group had more rapid recovery in keratometryp(p<0.01) and mean refractive error than EKP group(p<0.01). But there was no significant difference between two groups in uncorrected visual acuity(p=0.62), keratometry(p=0.41) and mean refractive error(p=0.32) at postoperative 1 year. LASIK seems to have more rapid and effective visual recovery than EKP for high myopia treatment.