THE EFFECTS OF TOPICAL STEROIDS ON REFRACTIVE OUTCOME AND CORNEAL HAZE, THICKNESS, AND CURVATURE AFTER PHOTOREFRACTIVE KERATECTOMY WITH A 6.0-MM ABLATION DIAMETER

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of topical prednisolone acetate after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) using a 6.0-mm ablatio n diameter on the refractive and visual outcomes, corneal haze, cornea l thickness, and corneal curvature in a prospective, double-masked, ra ndomized manner. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seventy-two eyes of 36 patients who had excimer laser PRK for correction of myopia ranging from -3.00 to -6.00 D (-4.11 +/- 0.84 D in eyes treated with steroids and -4.38 +/- 0.79 D in eyes treated with placebo; mean +/- SD) were enrolled. P RK procedures were performed using a 193-nm argon-fluoride excimer las er with 180-mJ/cm(2) fluence, a 10-Hz repetition rate, and a 6.0-mm ab lation diameter. One eye of each patient: was treated with the steroid (prednisolone acetate) and the other eye with placebo. Patients were observed for at least 12 months after PRK. RESULTS: There was no stati stically significant difference between the steroid and the placebo gr oups with regard to refraction measurements that were taken postoperat ively at 3 months (P = .39) and 12 months (P = .51). The corneas showe d an increase in thickness after PRK in both groups, but the differenc e was nor statistically significant at 12 months postoperatively (P = .45). The corneal haze score was not statistically different at any st age between groups (P = .30 at 3 months, P = .84 at 12 months). Kerato metric data derived from corneal topography did not show any statistic ally significant difference (P = .85 at 3 months, P = .36 at 12 months ). The rate of uncorrected visual acuity of 20/40 or more was 79.4% (. 27 eyes) in the steroid group and 70.5% (24 eyes) in the placebo group (P = .40). The rate of loss of 2 or more lines in best spectacle-corr ected visual acuity was 5.85% (2 eyes) in the steroid group and 8.8% ( 3 eyes) in the placebo group (P = 1.0). CONCLUSION: Topical prednisolo ne acetate use for 3 months after PRK with a 6.0-mm ablation diameter has no effect on refractive and visual outcome, corneal haze, corneal thickness, and corneal curvature.