J Korean Ophthalmol Soc.  2001 Sep;42(9):1250-1254.

Corneal Topographic Asymmetry and LASIK

• Shin MK
• Choi KY
• Cho BJ

Abstract

PURPOSE: The cornea of the keratoconus patient that is one of the contraindications in refractive surgery shows severe topographic asymmetry and the lower curvature is much steeper than the upper one. In this study, we evaluated whether the mild to moderate topographic asymmetry which does not fall under the Rabinowitz-McDonnell's keratoconus criteria(I-S value>3.0 D) would affect the LASIK results.
METHODS
The maximal diopter difference in central 3 mm-zone(MDD-3) of the pre-LASIK topography, the postoperative best uncorrected visual acuity(UCVA) and the postoperative best corrected visual acuity(BCVA) were analyzed in 248 eyes of 124 patients retrospectively. We divided the patients into 2 groups according to the magnitude of MDD-3(MDD-3<1.0 D in group 1 and MDD-3> OR =1.0 D in group 2). In the same manner, the patients were divided into 2 groups according to the magnitude of MDD-5(MDD-5<1.0 D in group A and MDD-5> OR =1.0 D in group B) using 5 mm-zone.
RESULTS
Between group 1 and 2, statistically significant difference was not observed in postoperative UCVA and BCVA(p>0.05). Between group A and B, statistically significant difference was not observed in postoperative UCVA and BCVA(p>0.05), either.
CONCLUSIONS
This suggests that the mild pre-LASIK topographic asymmetry would not affect the visual acuity after LASIK.

Keyword

Corneal asymmetry; LASIK; Topography

MeSH Terms

Cornea
Humans
Keratoconus
Keratomileusis, Laser In Situ*
Refractive Surgical Procedures
Retrospective Studies
Visual Acuity