Does Breastfeeding Influence Prk Outcomes? A Comparison Of Visual And Refractive Results

Published 2025 - 43rd Congress of the ESCRS

Reference: PP21.09 | Type: Free paper | DOI: 10.82333/27gf-tm33

Authors: Javad Sadeghi* ¹ , Yalda Barooti ¹ , Hamid Gharaei ¹ , Nasser Shoeibi ¹ , Mohammadreza Sedaghat ¹ , Negareh Yazdani ² , Ali Abasi Mehrabadi ² , Mehrdad Motamed Shariati ¹

¹Eye Research Center,Mashhad University of Medical Sciences,Mashhad,Iran, Islamic Republic Of, ²Refractive Errors Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran,Mashhad University of Medical Sciences,Mashhad,Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Purpose

To compare the visual and refractive outcomes of breastfeeding versus non-breastfeeding women who underwent photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) surgery.

Setting

Care-Vision Laser Centers, Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Methods

Medical files of women who underwent PRK surgery between January 2013 and December 2023 were reviewed. The patients were divided into two groups: women who reported breastfeeding during their screening examination and women who did not. Pre-, intra-, and post-operative parameters were compared between the groups.

Results

This study included 12,843 eyes from 6,567 women, with 550 eyes from breastfeeding women. Screening-to-surgery time was similar (159.5±412.5 vs. 142.8±390.6 days, P=0.331), but breastfeeding women had shorter follow-ups (61.0±72.9 vs. 70.6±84.0 days, P=0.008), were older (28.7±4.8 vs. 25.6±6.7 years, P<0.001), and had higher keratometry (44.78±1.49 vs. 44.55±1.54D, P<0.001), worse SEQ (-5.31±2.54 vs. -4.65±2.45D, P<0.001), UCVA (LogMAR 1.3±1.1 vs. 1.22±1.05, P=0.006), and BCVA (0.04±1.0 vs. 0.03±1.0, P=0.02). Postoperative UCVA (0.03±0.85 vs. 0.04±0.8, P=0.597) and BCVA (0.03±0.89 vs. 0.03±0.85, P=0.902) were similar, with no increased retreatment rates (P=0.796). Multivariate analysis found no significant differences.

Conclusions

Breastfeeding women who underwent myopic PRK surgery achieved visual and refractive outcomes comparable to those of non-breastfeeding women. These outcomes were assessed over an average follow-up period of two months. The results suggest that PRK surgery provides excellent visual outcomes for both breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding women within that time frame.