Comparison of outcomes of laser refractive surgery (LRS) alone and LRS with laser asymmetric keratectomy in patients with myopia: A retrospective study

To compare and analyze the postoperative 1-year outcomes of laser refractive surgery (LRS) alone vs LRS with laser asymmetric keratectomy (LAK), in patients with myopia, for preventing and resolving LRS complications. This retrospective study compared the preoperative and 1-year postoperative outcomes between the control and comparison groups using a sum of deviations in corneal thickness in 4 directions >80 μm. The control group included 41 patients with myopia (41 eyes) who underwent LRS. The comparison group included 33 patients (33 eyes) who received LAK-linked LRS. Age, spherical equivalent (SE), sphere, cylinder, uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), pupil size, kappa angle, central corneal thickness, corneal irregularity in the 3.0 mm zone on Orbscan maps (SUM), distance between the maximum posterior elevation (best-fit-sphere) and the visual axis (DISTANCE), postoperative blurring scores, frequency of postoperative myopic regression, and efficiency index were compared. Preoperative age (P = .198), SE (P = .686), sphere (P = .562), cylinder (P = .883), UDVA (P = .139), pupil size (P = .162), kappa angle (P = .807), central corneal thickness (P = .738), corneal irregularity (P = .826), SUM (P = .774), and DISTANCE (P = .716) were similar between the 2 groups. The 1-year postoperative SE (P = .024), sphere (P = .022), corneal irregularity (P = .033), SUM (P = .000), DISTANCE (P = .04), blurring scores (P = .000), and frequency of postoperative myopic regression (P = .004) were significantly decreased in the comparison group compared to the control group. UDVA (P = .014) and the efficiency index (P = .035) were higher in the comparison group. LAK with LRS improved corneal symmetry by reducing the SUM and DISTANCE. UDVA and efficiency index were also improved and blurring and myopic regression were reduced postoperatively.