Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate immediate and short-term visual recovery in a large cohort of 2239 myopic eyes (with or without astigmatism) treated with SmartSurfACE procedure, Transepithelial Photo Refractive Keratectomy (PRK) and implemented using the Smart Pulse Technology (SPT, SCHWIND eye-tech solutions GmbH, Kleinostheim, Germany).
Methods :
Paradigm study. Post-operative outcomes evaluated immediately after the surgery (Day 0), at day 1 and 3 months postoperatively, after myopic SmartSurfACE treatment with mean pre-operative spherical equivalent -4.65±2.53D, range (-16.13D to 0D). At each visit standard examinations were performed pre and postoperatively. The analysis evaluated preoperative corrected and uncorrected distance visual acuity (CDVA and UDVA), and postoperative UDVA, monocularly and binocularly, immediately after the surgery, at day 1 and 3 months follow up. Patients were asked if they could read their phones and asked to send text messages immediately after surgery.
Results :
Immediately after surgery, 50% eyes achieved monocular UDVA 20/40 or better while 72% patients achieved binocular UDVA 20/30 or better. At 3-month postoperatively, monocular UDVA 20/25 or better was achieved in 94% eyes. Treated eyes achieved immediately after surgery or by next day mean UDVA was 20/41±8. UDVA improved significantly from Day 1 to 3-months follow up (p<0.0001 for both OS and OD) to mean UDVA 20/21±5 (equal to preoperative CDVA 20/21±8). 97% of patients could read and send text messages with their phones immediately after surgery.
Conclusions :
Immediate recovery after SmartSurfACE PRK in our large cohort was rapid, providing functional binocular UDVA immediately after the surgery. Almost all patients were able to read their phones immediately after surgery. Possibly the new ablation profile of the SmartPulse beam results in a smoother ablation and more rapid recovery.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.