PRK Outcomes Maintained Over Long Term: Presented at ARVO

A long-term study of photorefractive keratectomy to correct myopia indicates that patients undergoing this procedure maintain improved vision for at least 13 years, researchers said here at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting.

"To our knowledge, this prospective study has the longest follow-up available on photorefractive keratectomy," said Graziano Bricola, MD, staff physician, University Eye Clinic of Genoa, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.

The researchers determined that the improvements seen after 3 months in patients treated with photorefractive keratectomy held up after 13 years "with no evidence of regression." They also found that ocular haze decreased with time and that patients recovered best-corrected vision acuity.

The study included 29 patients who had undergone the procedure in both eyes and 21 patients who had photorefractive keratectomy performed in just 1 eye -- or a total of 79 eyes. There were 32 men and 18 women among the 50 patients in the study.

Patients underwent the procedure with a Summit Technology UV200 Eximer laser. Patients were followed 1 day after surgery, then 3 to 6 days later, and once every 3 months for a year, every 6 months until year 2, and then every other year. Over the 13 years, 19 patients were lost to follow-up. The report was made on the basis of results in 49 eyes.

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