Long-term Safety, Efficacy And Corneal Posterior Elevation Of LASEK And Epi-LASIK For High Myopia

Purpose To evaluate the long-term safety, efficacy and corneal posterior elevation of LASEK and Epi-LASIK for high myopia.Methods We had a follow-up of the patients who underwent LASEK(27patients,45eyes) and Epi-LASIK(22patients,34eyes) in Fudan EENT Hospital during Oct2004to Sep2005. All of the operations were performed by the same surgeon. Preoperative MRSE were over-10D in average, group of Epi-LASIK-13.16±1.38D and group of LASEK-10.53±1.76D with no statistical differences between the two groups in preoperative age, gender ratio, front sagittal curvature, etc. Uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), ocular refraction, best distance visual acuity (BDVA), IOP and corneal topography were obtained more than6years postoperatively. In the meanwhile, corneal topographies of7patients (14eyes) that underwent LASIK at the same period of time (2004-2005) were obtained too. Statistic analyses were done by SPSS18.0(P<0.05as statistically significant).Results The long-term safety index of group of LASEK and Epi-LASIK was1.04and1.00respectively. MRSE was-1.73±1.23D in group of LASEK and-3.47±2.08D in group of Epi-LASIK6.5years after surgery.69.44%of the LASEK patients showed a MRSE within±1D from the aimed refraction, while the percentage in group of Epi-LASIK was33.33%. Intraocular pressure was generally normal. Average corneal thickness was around440um in both groups. Corneal topography showed normal posterior elevation in the central area of the cornea (within a diameter of5mm) in most of the eyes, group of LASEK11.68±3.53um, group of Epi-LASIK15.91±5.83um and group of LASIK11.10±3.10um. No corneal ectasia was detected.Conclusions LASEK and Epi-LASIK for high myopia proved safe and effective in the long run. The characteristics of corneal posterior elevation after LASEK and Epi-LASIK for high myopia need to be further discussed.