KoreaMed, a service of the Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors (KAMJE), provides access to articles published in Korean medical, dental, nursing, nutrition and veterinary journals. KoreaMed records include links to full-text content in Synapse and publisher web sites.
This study was performed to evaluate the result of photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) without topical corticosteroid treatment at postoperative two years. PRK was performed by Summit OmniMed excimer laser, using a 5.0 mm ablation zone in 51 eyes of 29 patients who were then followed up for more than 2 years. During this period, patients who showed myopic regression of less than 1.5 diopters(D) or corneal haze less than grade 2, were regarded as the favorable result group and those who showed myopic regression equal to or greater than 1.5 D or corneal haze greater than grade 1 were regarded as the unfavorable result group. Thirty-four of 51 eyes showed favorable results without any corticosteroid treatment, and 17 eyes showed unfavorable results. In this latter group preoperative mean refractive error (-7.94 +/- 1.58 D) was significantly higher than in the favorable result group (-5.14 +/- 1.30 D) (p < 0.01, t-test); there was, though no statistical difference in age, gender, or corneal thickness. The results were unfavorable in only two of 32 eyes suffering from moderate myopia (< or = -6.0 D), but in 15 of 19 showing high myopia (> -6.0 D). In eyes suffering from moderate myopia, routine topical corticosteroid treatment after PRK does not appear to be necessary.