Effect of hinge location on corneal sensation and dry eye after laser in situ keratomileusis for myopia
Accepted 1 March 2005.
Purpose
To evaluate the effects of a superior or nasal hinge location on corneal sensation and dry eye after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK).
Setting
Magill Research Center for Vision Correction, Storm Eye Institute, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
Methods
This prospective randomized masked study included 47 patients having bilateral myopic LASIK surgery. The first eye was randomly assigned to have a nasal or superior hinge flap; the fellow eye had the alternate location. Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, corneal sensation, basic secretion test, tear film breakup time, conjunctival and corneal staining, and a subjective questionnaire were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively at 1 week and 1, 3, and 6 months. The Wilcoxon signed rank test and paired t test were used for comparison.
Results
Dry eye occurred with the same frequency in both groups. However, eyes with the nasal hinge had significantly better nasal sensation than those with the superior hinge (P<.05) at 1 month.
Conclusion
Better nasal corneal sensation was found at 1 month in the nasal hinge group but there was no difference in any other parameters measured.
From Magill Research Center for Vision Correction, Storm Eye Institute, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Reprint requests to David T. Vroman, MD, Magill Research Center for Vision Correction, Storm Eye Institute—MUSC, 167 Ashley Avenue, Charleston, South Carolina 29425, USA.
Presented in part at the ASCRS Symposium on Cataract, IOL and Refractive Surgery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, June 2002, and the XXth Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, Nice, France, September 2002.
Supported in part by National Institutes of Heath grant EY014793 and unrestricted grants to Magill Research Center SEI-MUSC from Allergan Laboratories, Irvine, California, USA, and SEI-MUSC Research to Prevent Blindness, New York, New York, USA.
No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.
ABSTRACT