Myopia: radial keratotomy versus excimer laser

Myopia can be treated by radial keratomy or by excimer laser. RK is an already old procedure, excimer laser photoablation being relatively new. It is not clear which modality will best help the patient. To make up our minds, we took a sample of 8 patients, in whom we treated the first eye by RK, the second by laser. This experiment started in January 1992. Those patients were checked on anamnesis, refraction, electronic keratoscopy and follow-up. Anamnestically, every patient preferred the speed of recovery and the brightness of the sight in the RK eye and wondered why we treated the second eye with the laser. Our current attitude is to perform RK in every patient except where a bad RK-result is to be expected (high myopes, low eyepressure, very young patient, etc.), where we advise our excimer (Preference 20 to 1).