Phototherapeutic keratectomy for macular corneal dystrophy

Abstract

Purpose: To report a case of early intervention with phototherapeutic keratectomy for treatment of macular corneal dystrophy.

Methods: We report a 21-year-old Saudi male with early macular corneal dystrophy, recurrent erosions, and decreased visual acuity, who underwent phototherapeutic keratectomy in the right eye and penetrating keratoplasty in the left eye with more than 2 years of follow-up.

Results: Following phototherapeutic keratectomy, uncorrected visual acuity in the right eye improved from 20/80 to 20/30. Following penetrating keratoplasty in the left eye, uncorrected visual acuity deteriorated from 20/80 to 20/120 due to irregular astigmatism; the eye was not amenable to improvement with spectacle correction, and the patient declined contact lens therapy. In the right eye, there has been no anterior recurrence, although some mid- to deep stromal haze, which is not visually significant, has developed.

Conclusions: Early intervention for symptomatic, anterior macular corneal dystrophy with phototherapeutic keratectomy is relatively safe and preferable to observation or penetrating keratoplasty.