Abstract
Purpose:
To determine the safety of superficial corneal crosslinking (SCXL) after LASIK
Methods:
In a prospective study, 78 eyes of 78 patients were treated with LASIK for myopia correction and followed for up to 1 year. All eyes had an ectasia risk score of 2 and more. After the standard LASIK (90µm-flap) a rapid CXL was performed in the interface (riboflavin 0.5% for 2 minutes, 9mW/cm2 for 5 minutes). Additional to the standard follow up-examinations at 1 and 12 months post operatively at any appointment a corneal OCT-scan was performed. The incidence of complications was statistically compared to a group of eyes treated with standard LASIK and matched regarding age, gender and attempted refractive correction.
Results:
At 1 month after surgery, 5 eyes of the SCXL group had lost one line in BSCVA compared to 1 eye of the control group (p>0.05). All eyes had regained preoperative BSCVA at 1 year after surgery indicating a complication rate of less than 5%. Refractive success was identical in both groups. Early post-operative complications like erosions (15%) and DLK1 (38%) and DLK2 (5%) were significantly more frequent after SCXL.
Conclusions:
Based on 1 year-results, SCXL might be considered a safe adjunct to LASIK. Whether SCXL is capable to prevent iatrogenic keratectasia is not proven.