The Effect Of Artificial Tears On Corneal Epithelial Thickness Profile Changes After Prk By Corneal Epithelial Mapping
Published 2022
- 40th Congress of the ESCRS
Reference: PP09.07
| Type: ESCRS 2022 - Posters
| DOI:
10.82333/dg8x-vx24
Authors:
Mehdi Khodaparast* 1
, Masoud Khorrami-Nejad 1
, Seyed-Farzad Mohammadi 1
, Hesam Hashemian 1
, Samaneh Azizi 1
, Hooman Ahmadzadeh 1
1Translational Ophthalmology Research Center, Farabi Eye Hospital,Tehran University of Medical Sciences,Tehran,Iran, Islamic Republic Of
Purpose
To evaluate the effect of artificial tears on corneal epithelial thickness profile changes after PRK by corneal epithelial mapping.
Setting
This study was done at Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Methods
This prospective interventional case series study was performed on 142 PRK patients without dry eye who received PRK for myopic refractive correction. Corneal epithelial thickness profile was obtained before and one, three and six months after PRK using the RTvue-100 (Optovue, Fremont, CA) in 2 mm central zone, 2-5 mm, 5-7 mm, and 7-9 mm regions. Patients were randomly divided into two groups: group A (71 patients) who were treated with preservative-free artificial tears (Sina Daru, Iran) and group B (68 patients) who did not receive artificial tears.
Results
One month after PRK, the epithelial thickness of both groups showed a significant decrease compared to preop values. Group A had greater epithelial thickness in 0-2 and 2-5 mm rings. In 3 months, in group A, the epithelial thickness was significantly higher than baseline in central and 2-5 mm rings; the increase was milder in outer rings. In group B, the thickness was increased up to baseline levels in all regions. Group A had greater epithelial thickness compared to group B, in all rings. In the six-month follow-up, epithelial thickness showed a continued trend of increasing. Central and 2-5 mm ring of group B increased to higher than baseline levels. 5-7 and 7-9 rings of both groups only increased up to the baseline levels.
Conclusions
Initially, the post-PRK thickness was decreased at one month then increased in later follow-ups. The increase was more significant in 0-2 and 2-5 mm rings which were up to higher than baseline levels, compared to peripheral rings which increased only up to baseline levels. Patients treated with preservative-free artificial tears showed a faster increase, but there was no significant difference between the two groups in the final follow-up. This study shows that lubricant drops may increase the speed of epithelial recovery in post-PRK patients