Excimer laser myopic photorefractive keratectomy after undercorrected radial keratotomy

Two patients, a 41-year-old female diabetic and a 37-year-old male, were undercorrected after radial keratotomy (spherical equivalents of -3.25 diopters in each eye). Because they were unable to wear a contact lens and had uncorrected visual acuities of 20/400 and 20/100, respectively, they elected to undergo excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy to reduce the myopia by 3.00 D and 2.75 D, respectively. Three months postoperatively, both patients were within 0.50 D of emmetropia. Videokeratography demonstrated a fairly uniform zone of central flattening. The previous radial keratotomy surgery and the diabetes (in one patient) did not appear to complicate the surgery. Excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy appears to hold promise as a means of correcting eyes left undercorrected by radial keratotomy.