Eight eyes of 5 patients with post-LASIK corneal ectasia (3 men and 2 women) ages 31 to 54 years (mean age±standard deviation [SD], 41.60±9.24 years) who had completed 5 years of follow-up (mean follow-up ± SD, 60.1±4.9 months; range, 57–68 months).
Intervention
Two Intacs segments, inserted in the usual fashion, were used for low myopia correction (1 each nasally and temporally), with thickness based on the residual refraction of the patients.
Main Outcome Measures
Manifest refraction, uncorrected and best spectacle-corrected visual acuity, patient satisfaction, topography, and confocal microscopy analysis.
Results
No intraoperative or late postoperative complications occurred in this series of patients. At 5 years, the SE error was statistically significantly reduced (pre-Intacs mean±SD, −5.47±2.66 diopters [D]; range, −11.50 to −3.00 D) to −2.56±3.44 D (range, −9.50 to 1.5 D; P = 0.01). At the end of the first postoperative year, refractive stability was obtained and remained stable during the follow-up period with no significant changes between the interval meantime (P>0.05). Pre-Intacs uncorrected visual acuity was 20/100 or worse in all eyes (range, counting fingers–20/100), whereas at the last follow-up examination, 6 (75%) of 8 eyes had uncorrected visual acuity of 20/40 or better (range, counting fingers–20/25). Two eyes (25%) maintained the pre-Intacs best spectacle-corrected visual acuity, whereas the rest of the eyes (6 eyes; 75%) experienced a gain of 1 or 2 lines. At the end of the first postoperative year, uncorrected and best-spectacle corrected visual acuity and topographic stability were obtained and were shown to have remained stable during the follow-up period with no significant changes between the interval meantime. Lamellar channel deposits were observed in confocal microscopy at or adjacent to the intrastromal ring segment.
Conclusions
Refractive stability was maintained for up to 5 years in the treatment of post-LASIK corneal ectasia after Intacs implantation. There was no evidence of progressive time-dependent corneal ectasia, late regression, or sight-threatening complications in this study.
1Department of Ophthalmology, University of Crete, Crete, Greece.
2Institute of Vision and Optics, University of Crete, Crete, Greece.
Correspondence to George D. Kymionis, MD, PhD, Institute of Vision and Optics, University of Crete, Medical School, Department of Ophthalmology, 71110 Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
Manuscript no. 2005-958.
The authors have no financial or proprietary interest in any materials or methods described herein.
ABSTRACT