Traumatic Scar Induced Astigmatism Correction. Unexpected Result.

Corneal injuries often finish with a scar, which can lead to refractive errors, in particular irregular astigmatism. Low vision is not the only problem of the corneal scars. Cornea is transparent tissue of the eye, and some opacities are externally visible and can impact social confidence, especially for young individuals. This case also is not an exception.

Transepi photorefractive keratectomy was performed to correct the high astigmatism and to make the cornea more transparent.In this case it was phototherapeutic keratectomy also․

A 37-year-old male presented to our clinic with complaints of blurry vision in his right eye. Blurry vision was due to a penetrating injury of the eye, which took place 2 years ago. He was diagnosed with traumatic cataract in another clinic and underwent traumatic cataract extraction with intraocular lens implantation 2 years ago. After a full ophthalmological examination high irregular astigmatism was detected in his right eye, due to peripheral corneal scar. UCVA of the eye was 0.1, corneal astigmatism 4.54D by topography ACE Bausch & Lomb and 5.75D by autorefractokeratometry Topcon. Keratometric data were K1 43.38D K2 49.13D. The BCVA was 0.6. The patient was recommended Transepi PRK without high guarantee. He was well educated about the unpredictable results after vision correction, as we must deal with irregular astigmatism and penetrating scar.

Trasnepi PRK was performed to improve not only visual acuity and clarity, as well as to make the cornea more transparent, thereby improving the appearance of the eye. The result was remarkable. After recovery of the epithelium, UDVA of the treated eye was 0.7, residual corneal astigmatism was 1.08D K1 48.77D K2 49.85D.The corneal scar became less visible.Even with this steep cornea patient was satisfied with the visual acuity and appearance of his eye.

Transepi PRK is a safe and effective procedure for correction of corneal scar induced astigmatism and to restore the corneal transparency, thereby improving the social confidence of those patients.