The Results of Phototherapeutic Keratectomy in the Superficial Corneal Opacities and Recurrent Corneal Erosions

Purpose: To study the effect of phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) in the treatment of various superficial corneal pathologies. Methods: We performed a nonrandomized, prospective study on patients who presented with superficial corneal disease and/or poor vision. Fifty eyes were included; recurrent corneal erosion (RCE): 25 eyes, Salzmann’s nodular degeneration: 9 eyes, spheroidal degeneration: 4 eyes, trachoma keratitis scar: 5 eyes, traumatic scar and pseudophakic bullous keratopathy: each one 2 eyes, macular dystrophy, herpetic corneal scar, and band keratopathy each of them 1 eye. All patients were treated with Nidek EC-5000 excimer laser. A central 4-8 mm ablation zone was determined by opacity diameter. Follow up ranged from 90 days to 20 months; mean 304±165 days for RCE group and 395±197 days for others. Results: Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) improved from mean of /50 (logMAR=0.44) and /400 (logMAR=1.1) preoperatively to /30 (logMAR=0.2) and /120 (logMAR=0.78) postoperatively in RCE and opacity groups respectively. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) improved from mean of /30 (LogMAR=0.22) and /200 (logMAR=0.96) preoperatively to /25 (logMAR=0.07) and /100 (logMAR=0.65) postoperatively in RCE and opacity groups respectively. Recurrent erosion dramatically reduces in RCE group. Conclusion: PTK can improve UCVA and BCVA in various superficial corneal pathologies and reduce spontaneous corneal erosions but proper case selection is crucial.