Successful Surgical Correction of Astigmatism using Customized Ablation Photorefractive Keratectomy

The aim of this study was to determine the change in the degree of astigmatism in patients treated with customized ablation photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). This is a cross-sectional study that involved 92 otherwise healthy subjects with regular and irregular astigmatism ≥ 1.25 D (mean age: 39.09 ± 7.72 years; range: 20-59 years). All study subjects were treated with customized ablation PRK using a Technolas 217p Excimer Laser System. Before and 6 months after the surgery, a refraction assessment was conducted for each subject, and the effectiveness of the surgery for correcting astigmatism was evaluated. There was a significant change in astigmatism based on the results of an automated refraction exam of -1.67 ± 1.03 D (P < 0.001), from -2.51 ± 1.45 D preoperatively to -0.87 ± 0.94 D postoperatively. There was also a significant change in subjective refraction of -2.00 ± 1.25 D (P < 0.001), from -2.46 ± 1.52 D preoperatively to -0.46 ± 0.97 D postoperatively. Therefore, our results show that customized ablation PRK is effective for correcting astigmatism ≥ 1.25 D (P < 0.001).