NEAR VISION CONTRAST SENSITIVITY AFTER PHOTOREFRACTIVE KERATECTOMY

Background: To evaluate near Vision contrast sensitivity as a measure of visual performance after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). Setting : LSU Eye Center, New Orleans, Louisiana. Methods: Using Holladay Cont rast Acuity Test cards, near (reading) vision for five levels of contr ast sensitivity was evaluated in a cross section of 53 eyes of 31 pati ents 25 to 732 days after PRK, Twenty-four normal eyes of 22 myopic pa tients sewed as controls. Results: Near contrast sensitivity decreased at all tested contrast levels for approximately 7 months after PRK an d then returned to baseline. This phenomenon paralleled the fluctuatio n in best corrected distance Snellen acuity. Conclusions: These prelim inary results indicate that Snellen visual acuity and near contrast se nsitivity returned to baseline within 1 year after PRK.