amplitude and facility of accommodation in myopic eyes after photorefractive keratectomy

purpose: to determine the amplitude and facility of accommodation after photorefractive keratectomy (prk) in myopic subjects. methods: the study was performed on 160 eyes of 80 patients aged 19 to 72 years. amplitude and facility of accommodation was evaluated before and 2 weeks and one and three months after prk. amplitude of accommodation was evaluated by “minus lens” method and facility of accommodation was determined using alternate plus and minus lens technique. results: overall 67.5% of cases were female and mean age was 26.1±5.4 years. mean amplitude of accommodation was 3.8±1.4 diopters (d) preoperatively which reached 4.5±1.6 d (p=0.02) two weeks and 4.9±1.4 d (p=0.03) one month postoperatively but remained stable up to three months. mean binocular facility of accommodation was 5.8±3.4 cycles/minute (c/m) preoperatively which reached 7.4±3.6 c/m two weeks (p<0.001), 9.2±3.4 c/m (p<0.001) one month and 10.0±3.2 c/m (p<0.001) three months postoperatively. conclusion: the amplitude and facility of accommodation in young myopic patients gradually increases after prk. near work and accommodative vision will improve over time.