Excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy for myopia: six-month follow-up

In this study, 108 eyes of 62 patients had photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) with a 193 nm excimer laser to correct myopia. The eyes were assigned to one of three groups: low, moderate, or high myopia. Six months after PRK, 88.9% of eyes in the low myopia group, 90.0% in the moderate myopia group, and 23.8% in the high myopia group achieved an uncorrected visual acuity of 20/40 or better. In the low myopia group, 88.9% were within +/- 1 diopter (D) of attempted correction, as were 70.0% in the moderate group and 18.8% in the high myopia group. There were no significant complications. We conclude that excimer laser PRK appears to be a safe and relatively accurate procedure to correct low to moderate myopia but not high myopia because of regression over time.