[Corneal morphometric predictive models from ametropia to excimer laser treatment]

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Surgical Technology

Background:

• Refractive surgery aims to correct vision by reshaping the cornea.
• Understanding corneal morphometrics is crucial for predicting surgical outcomes.
• Excimer laser surgery techniques like LASIK and LASEK are widely used.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop predictive corneal morphometric models.
• To correlate refractive error magnitude with corneal changes after laser surgery.
• To aid in patient selection and technique choice for refractive surgery.

Main Methods:

• Prospective-longitudinal study of 151 eyes (LASIK) and 111 eyes (myopic astigmatism).
• Utilized ESIRIS equipment with a pendulous microkeratome for LASIK.
• Employed NIDEK Confoscan microscopy for image analysis.
• Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.

Main Results:

• Refractive error magnitude explained 84.3% of epithelial thickness variations post-LASIK.
• Refractive error accounted for 68.8% of posterior flap keratocyte density variations and 48.2% of anterior retroablation zone variations.
• Corneal thickness variations after LASEK were primarily (90%) due to pre-operative refractive error.

Conclusions:

• Developed predictive models showing morphometric variations correlate with refractive error magnitude.
• These models are vital for optimizing patient selection in refractive surgery.
• Models assist in choosing the most appropriate surgical technique for individual patients.