PRK with accelerated CXL

Photorefractive keratotomy followed by accelerated corneal cross-linking (PRK-Xtra) can provide predictable and stable results in eyes with suspicious topography, according to a study presented by Michael Grentzelos MD at the 23rd ESCRS Winter Meeting in Athens Greece. The study included 10 eyes of five patients with suspicious topography with asymmetric steepening and/or skewed axis. The patients had a mean age of 29 years (range:22 to 44 years), a mean spherical equivalent of -2.74D and a follow-up of four years, said Dr Grentzelos, University of Crete, Institute of Vision and Optics. All patients underwent mechanical debridement of epithelium in an 8.0mm diameter of the cornea and photorefractive keratectomy with mitomycin C application for 20sec, followed by accelerated CXL, which was performed for five minutes with an irradiance of 18mW/cm². After a mean follow-up of four years, nine out of 10 eyes were within 0.50D of target refraction and all were within 1.0D. None of the eyes lost a line of best-corrected visual acuity, and two eyes gained one line. All corneas remained stable during follow-up, Dr Grentzelos said.

Tags: corneal cross-linking, photorefractive keratectomy