Epi-LASIK: Preliminary clinical results of an alternative surface ablation procedure

Purpose

To evaluate the clinical results of epi-LASIK, a new surface ablation surgical technique for the treatment of low myopia.

Setting

Vardinoyannion Eye Institute of Crete, University of Crete, Greece.

Methods

Forty-four eyes of 31 patients had epi-LASIK for the correction of low myopia. Mean preoperative spherical equivalent was 3.71 diopters (D) ± 1.2 (SD) (range −1.75 to −7.00 D) and the mean baseline logMAR best spectacle-corrected visual acuity was −0.01 ± 0.06 (range 0.10 to −0.10). All the epithelial separations were performed with the Centurion epikeratome (CIBA Surgical). The enrolled patients were followed daily until the epithelial healing was complete as well as at 1- and 3-month intervals. On the operative day, patients filled out a questionnaire grading visual performance and pain score of treated eyes every 2 hours for a total of 5 records.

Results

The mean epithelial healing time was 4.86 ± 0.56 days (range 3 to 5 days). The mean logMAR uncorrected visual acuity on the day of reepithelization was 0.19 ± 0.09 (range 0.40 to 0.10). At 1 month, the mean was spherical equivalent of the treated eyes (N=44), −0.3 ± 0.6 D (range −1.0 to 0.87 D), and at 3 months it was (N=37), −0.10 ± 0.4 D (range −0.75 to 0.75 D); 97% of eyes had clear corneas or trace haze 3 months after treatment.

Conclusions

Preliminary clinical results suggest that epi-LASIK is a safe and efficient method for the correction of low myopia. Further studies will establish this method as an alternative surface ablation procedure.