Effect of age on visual and refractive results after laser-assisted subepithelial keratomileusis (LASEK) with adjuvant use of mitomycin C

PURPOSE: To evaluate the influence of age on visual and refractive results after laser-assisted subepithelial keratomileusis (LASEK) with the adjuvant use of mitomycin C (MMC) for the correction of myopia. METHODS: Retrospective, nonrandomized, cohort study. A total of 1374 eyes treated with LASEK + MMC were included in the study (we compared 1163 eyes of patients aged 18 to 40 years versus 211 eyes of patients over 40 years). Visual and refractive results were evaluated at the 6-month postoperative visit. RESULTS: Six months postoperatively, both the uncorrected distance visual acuity and the corrected distance visual acuity were significantly better in the group of young patients (P = 0.0001). We found a slight tendency to overcorrection in the group of young patients compared to a slight tendency to undercorrection in the group of patients over 40 years (P = 0.002). The efficacy index was significantly better in the group of younger patients (0.91 ± 0.2) than in the older patients (0.86 ± 0.2) (P = 0.0001). No significant difference was found in the safety index between groups. 81.5% of eyes in the group of patients aged 18 to 40 years compared to 75.3% of eyes in the group of patients aged >40 years were within ± 0.5D of emmetropia (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: A tendency toward undercorrection and less predictability was found with aging after myopic LASEK with MMC for the correction of myopia.