the usefulness of excimer laser surgery assisted by sodium hyaluronate for the correction of irregular astigmatism

Correction of Irregular Astigmatism with Excimer Laser Assisted by Sodium Hyaluronate

Article Specifications

This Prospective noncomparative case series, was published in 2001 in American journal of ophthalmology (IF 2014:6.1) by Spanish ophthalmologists. The aim of study is to demonstrate the usefulness of excimer laser surgery assisted by sodium hyaluronate for the correction of irregular astigmatism after previous corneal refractive surgery. Fifty eyes with surgically induced irregular astigmatism. Patients were classified and selected, according to the corneal topography pattern, into two groups as described by us in a previous study: irregular astigmatism with defined corneal topography pattern (35 patients) (pattern irregular astigmatism), and without defined corneal topography pattern (15 patients) (undefined pattern or irregularly irregular astigmatism).Uncorrected and best-corrected visual acuity, manifest and cycloplegic refraction, superficial corneal surface quality, image distortion, and predicted corneal visual acuity were the main outcome measures.

Results

At 3 and 6 months of follow-up, the irregular corneal surface was significantly improved in all cases.  It is possible to produce a more regular corneal surface and to improve best-corrected visual acuity in patients with irregular astigmatism using Plano-scan excimer laser assisted by viscous masking solution of 0.25% sodium hyaluronate.