Short-Term Clinical Results of Hyperopic LASEK in Korean Patients

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To evaluate short-term clinical outcomes following hyperopic laser-assisted subepithelial keratomileusis (LASEK) in Korean patients. METHODS: This retrospective study included 18 eyes of 10 patients who underwent hyperopic LASEK between May 2005 and March 2013 in Seoul National University Hospital. Visual acuity and spherical equivalent were evaluated preoperatively and at 1 and 3 months postoperatively. High order aberrations and contrast sensitivity were measured before and 3 months after the operation. Alternative prism cover test (APCT) was performed both preoperatively with correction and postoperatively without correction. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 32 +/- 11 years and the mean spherical equivalent refractive error was -2.95 +/- 1.24 diopters (D). Uncorrected visual acuities were log MAR +0.17 +/- 0.15 and log MAR +0.14 +/- 0.15 at postoperative 1 month and 3 months, respectively and showed no significant difference in best corrected visual acuity (+0.25 +/- 0.30). Spherical equivalent was -0.22 +/- 1.22 D at 1 month and 0.38 +/- 0.91 D at 3 months postoperatively. In 6 patients who had esotropia before the operation, APCT was 7.83 +/- 3.60 prism diopters (PD) esotropia at distance with correction preoperatively and 4.67 +/- 5.65 PD at distance without correction postoperatively. Three patients (16.7%) showed delayed wound healing with 1 (5.56 %) having persistent corneal opacity without significant visual loss. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of LASEK may be comparable for correcting hyperopia and esotropia when compared with the effect of LASIK in previous reports; however, delayed wound healing may be a concern.