Abstract
Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to measure corneal epithelial thickness changes after LASIK with optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Methods:
A Fourier-domain OCT system with 26,000 axial-scans/second scan speed and 5µm axial resolution was used. A pachymetry scan pattern (8 radials, 1024 axial-scans each, 6mm diameter) centered at the pupil center was used to image the cornea. A computer algorithm was developed to generate the epithelial thickness (tear film included) map automatically. Central corneal epithelial thickness was measured before and 3 month after LASIK. Pre- and post-operative central and peripheral epithelial thickness was compared using paired t-test.
Results:
Twelve eyes from 7 subjects were included in the study. All subjects had myopic LASIK ranging from -1.33D to -6.31D. The optical zone diameter was either 8.0mm or 8.5mm. The average central epithelial thickness was measured to be 53.5 ± 2.0 μm before LASIK and 56.7 ± 3.0 μm after LASIK (p = 0.02). The central epithelial thickness change is correlated with LASIK dioptric correction (R = 0.80, p = 0.056)
Conclusions:
Corneal epithelial thickness increases after LASIK. It would be interesting to measure epithelial thickness change at the edge of the optical zone (8-9mm diameter) with future wide-field OCT.
Keywords: 552 imaging methods (CT, FA, ICG, MRI, OCT, RTA, SLO, ultrasound) •
683 refractive surgery: LASIK •
482 cornea: epithelium