The Effect of Topical Prostaglandin Synthesis Inhibitor and Therapeutic Contact Lens on the Pain and Corneal Reepithelialization after Excimer Laser PRK

Choi, Jin Young; Joo, Choun Ki

Abstract

In order to evaluate the effect of topical prostaglanduin synthesis inhibitor(Diclod) and therapeutic contact lens(T-lens) on pain control and epithelial wound healing following excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy(PRK) we examined the score of subjective pain & the degree of corneal epithelial defect on 40 consecutive patients with or without above treatment. The patients were subdivided into 4 groups : 10 patients treated with only pressure patch(Group 1), 10 patients with pressure patch & Diclod(Group 2), 10 patients with only T-lens(Group 3), and 10 patients with T-lens & Diclod(Group 4). Diclod(Group 2&4) was effective on pain control during three days after excimer laser PRK, while T-lens treatment was not effective. Subjective pain score between the patient with Diclod(Group 2&4) and those without Diclod(Group 1&3) was significantly different(p< 0.05). In the point of epithelial wound healing after excimer laser PRK, 95% of patients treated with T-lens(Group 3&4) revealed no epithelial defect three days after excimer laser PRK, while only 65% of the patients treated with pressure patch revealed that. The difference was statistially significant(p< 0.05). Diclod, however, did not influence the epithelial wound healing in both pressure group and T-lens group. In this study we could find that the combination of Diclod & T-lens was a recommendable method to decrease the pain & to increase the epithelial wound healing after excimer laser PRK.