Effect of contact lens wear on photorefractive keratectomy

This study compares refractive effect and epithelial healing after photorefractive keratectomy among patients who wore contact lenses before surgery versus those who wore glasses before surgery. Data were reviewed on 130 photorefractive keratectomy cases at the 1-week, 2-week, and 4- to 6-month postoperative visits. The patients were divided into three groups based on whether or not they wore contact lenses before surgery: 1) rigid gas permeable lens wearers; 2) soft lens wearers; 3) no contact lens wear. There were no significant differences in epithelial healing among the groups. Some regression of refractive effect was observed both in mean spherical equivalent and in mean keratometry in all the groups from 2 weeks to 6 months postoperatively. There was no significant difference in the regression of each group. In addition, the changes of spherical equivalent and keratometry before surgery and 4 to 6 months after surgery were compared among the groups with no significant differences. Based upon these results, we conclude that contact lens wearing does not seem to influence epithelial healing after photorefractive keratectomy surgery and also does not affect the refractive effect in the early postoperative period.