Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jun;41(6):2091-2098.
doi: 10.1007/s10792-021-01766-5. Epub 2021 Mar 22.

LASIK versus PRK for high astigmatism

Michael Mimouni  1 , Russell Pokroy  2   3 , Gilad Rabina  4 , Igor Kaiserman  5   6   7
Affiliations

LASIK versus PRK for high astigmatism

Michael Mimouni et al. Int Ophthalmol. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the refractive outcomes of laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) and photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) for myopic astigmatism of 3 diopters (D) or more.

Study design: Retrospective matched comparative study.

Methods: This study include consecutive myopic patients (SE 0 to -10 D) undergoing LASIK or PRK between 2007 and 2016 with astigmatism of 3 to 6 D, and postoperative follow-up of at least 30 days for LASIK and 60 days for PRK, compared outcomes of LASIK and PRK eyes.

Results: The LASIK and PRK groups comprised 175 eyes of 175 patients each, with median follow-up of 39 and 139 days, respectively (P < 0.001). Mean preoperative manifest astigmatism was -3.35 ± 0.46 and -3.42 ± 0.51 D (P = 0.92), postoperative SE was -0.43 ± 0.55 and -0.16 ± 0.64 D (P < 0.001), and arithmetic astigmatism was -0.59 ± 0.46 and -0.88 ± 0.60 D (P < 0.001), for the LASIK and PRK groups, respectively. Fifty-seven and 64.0% eyes had postoperative SE within ± 0.5 D of emmetropia (P = 0.19), and 57.7 and 38.8% eyes were within 0.5 D of attempted astigmatic correction (P < 0.001) for the LASIK and PRK groups, respectively. More PRK eyes were overtreated regarding both SE and astigmatism than LASIK eyes (P < 0.001). The efficacy and safety indices were close to 1.0 in both groups. The surgically induced astigmatism, magnitude of error, index of success, correction index and flattening index were all better in the LASIK group.

Conclusion: Both LASIK and PRK achieve good outcomes in high astigmatism. LASIK achieved mild superiority over PRK.

Keywords: Astigmatism; Cylinder; LASIK; PRK; Refractive surgery.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Pokroy R, Mimouni M, Sela T et al (2017) Predictors of myopic photorefractive keratectomy retreatment. J Cataract Refract Surg 43:825–832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrs.2017.06.001 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Shortt AJ, Allan BD, Evans JR (2013) Laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) versus photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) for myopia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 1:CD005135. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD005135.pub3 - DOI
    1. Davis EA, Lindstrom RL (2001) Astigmatism management: ablation patterns. Curr Opin Ophthalmol 12:300–303 - DOI
    1. Serrao S, Lombardo M (2005) Corneal epithelial healing after photorefractive keratectomy: analytical study. J Cataract Refract Surg 31:930–937. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrs.2004.12.041 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kanellopoulos AJ, Asimellis G (2014) Longitudinal postoperative LASIK epithelial thickness profile changes in correlation with degree of myopia correction. J Refract Surg 30:166–171. https://doi.org/10.3928/1081597X-20140217-03 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources