Epithelial Remodeling and Epithelial Wavefront Aberrometry after Spherical vs. Cylindrical Myopic Small Incision...

Background/Objectives: To compare the epithelial thickness changes and the changes in epithelial wavefront aberrometry following spherical versus astigmatic myopic small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE). Methods: Eighty-six eyes of 86 patients who underwent SMILE were included in this retrospective study. A total of 43 eyes underwent myopic spherical correction (spherical group) and 43 eyes underwent myopic cylindrical correction (cylindrical group). The groups were matched according to the spherical equivalent of surgically corrected refraction. Subjective manifest refraction as well as high-resolution anterior segment optical coherence tomography (MS-39; CSO; Florence, Italy) were obtained preoperatively as well as 3 months postoperatively. The latter was utilized for computing epithelial wavefront aberrometry in addition to epithelial thickness mapping. Results: Epithelial thickness increased significantly in both groups after SMILE (p < 0.01). In the cylindrical group, epithelial thickening was more pronounced on the flat meridian compared to the steep meridian (p = 0.04). In both groups, epithelial wavefront aberrometry showed a significant postoperative increase in the epithelium's spherical refractive power, causing a myopization of -0.24 ± 0.42 diopters (D) in the spherical group (p < 0.01) and -0.41 ± 0.52 D in the cylindrical group (p < 0.0001). While no significant changes in epithelial cylindrical refractive power were observed in the spherical group, a significant increase was noted in the cylindrical group from -0.21 ± 0.24 D to -0.37 ± 0.31 D (p = 0.01). In both groups, epithelial higher-order aberrations increased significantly (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Postoperative epithelial remodeling after SMILE alters lower-order (sphere and cylinder) and higher-order aberrations of the corneal epithelial wavefront and might contribute to refractive undercorrection, especially in astigmatic corrections. Epithelial wavefront aberrometry can be used to quantify the refractive effect of epithelial remodeling processes after keratorefractive surgery.