Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis in Flat, Normal, and Steep Corneas

To compare laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) outcomes in patients with different corneal curvatures.

This is a retrospective comparative chart review. Patients included in this study underwent wavefront-optimized myopic LASIK between January 2013 and December 2022 at Care-Vision Laser Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel. Patients were divided into 3 groups based on the steepness of the cornea (steep keratometry) (flat: <42 diopters [D], normal: 42-46 D, and steep: >46 D). Case-by-case matching was performed to verify that baseline parameters (age, preoperative visual acuity, and refractive error) were similar between groups. Primary outcome measures were postoperative corrected/uncorrected distance visual acuity, efficacy index, safety index, spherical equivalence, and astigmatism.

After matching, 300 eyes were included in each group, which were similar in baseline parameters. There were no significant postoperative differences between flat, normal, and steep corneas regarding safety index (1.01 vs. 1.02 vs. 1.01, P = 0.95), efficacy index (1.03 vs. 1.02 vs. 1.02, P = 0.94), logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution corrected distance visual acuity (0.01 vs. 0.01 vs. 0.01, P = 0.17), logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution uncorrected distance visual acuity (0.02 vs. 0.03 vs. 0.02, P = 0.65), proportion of patients with spherical equivalence within 0.50 D (73.0% vs. 73.7% vs. 69.3%, P = 0.45) or 1.00 D (93.3% vs. 94.7% vs. 91.7%, P = 0.34) of the target, and proportion of patients with astigmatism within 0.50 D (86.7% vs. 82.3% vs. 80.3%, P = 0.11) or 1.00 D (98.7% vs. 98.7% vs. 99.0%, P = 0.91) of the target. Longer term follow-up of a smaller set of patients revealed similar results.

No significant differences were found between flat, normal, and steep corneas following wavefront-optimized myopic LASIK. Thus, this procedure may be safely and effectively performed across a wide range of corneal curvatures.