Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To report the visual outcome after laser in–situ keratomileusis (LASIK) in adults with amblyopia. Design: Retrospective, case–control series Participants: 46 amblyopic eyes of 40 patients and 46 eyes of 46 normal patients who underwent LASIK at EmoryVision. Method: Subjects were selected from a database containing 17,152 eyes that underwent LASIK from June 19, 1997 to November 17, 2001 based on the following criteria: (1) best corrected visual acuity worse than 20/40, (2) ≥ 18 years of age, (3) no prior ocular surgery, and (4) no gross ocular pathology to correlate with decreased BCVA. 242 eyes meeting these criteria were further screened for amblyopia by manual chart review for a previous diagnosis of amblyopia, history of strabismus, and/or history of amblyopia therapy (patching, penalization, strabismus surgery). 46 eligible eyes of 40 patients met these criteria. A comparison group with identical refractive errors and BSCVA better than 20/40 was selected from the same database. Pre– and post–operative visual acuities measured with ETDRS charts were compared. Results: After an average follow–up of 8.12 mos. (range 3 – 48 mos.), the amblyopic group gained 0.63 lines of BSCVA compared to 0.0 lines in the comparison group (p=0.01). At 1 year (n=18), the amblyopic group gained 1.22 lines of BSCVA (p=0.01). In the amblyopic group, one eye lost more than 3 lines of BSCVA, 5 eyes lost 1 line of BSCVA; 18 eyes had no change; 13 eyes gained 1 line BSCVA, 4 eyes gained 2 lines BSCVA; 4 eyes gained 3 lines BSCVA; and 1 eye gained 4 lines BSCVA on final ETDRS vision testing. In the comparison group, 4 eyes lost 2 lines of BSCVA, 8 lost 1 line, 19 eyes had no change, 14 eyes gained one line, and one eye gained 2 lines. No eyes in the comparison group gained 3 or more lines of BSCVA. There were no complications in either the amblyopic or comparison groups. Conclusion: BSCVA of amblyopic eyes tends to improve after LASIK.
Keywords: refractive surgery • amblyopia • visual acuity