PHOTOREFRACTIVE KERATECTOMY FOLLOWING PENETRATING KERATOPLASTY

We present 3 eyes that underwent photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) for residual myopia after penetrating keratoplasty, and 1 eye that was tr eated for recurrent granular dystrophy and myopia following penetratin g keratoplasty. The 3 refractive eyes experienced improvements in visu al acuity and refractive error through 3 months postoperative, but exh ibited regression of effect after 6 months postoperative. One eye also exhibited substantial corneal haze at three months postoperative that was not responsive to steroid retreatment. The eye with granular dyst rophy obtained symptomatic relief as well as improvement in vision. We tentatively conclude that the corneal transplant reacts to photorefra ctive keratectomy in much the same way as a normal cornea. Eyes with s ubstantial degrees of post-graft myopia exhibit regression of refracti ve effect, much like high myopes following primary photorefractive ker atectomy. Photorefractive was unable to prevent the recurrence of gran ular dystrophy in the transplanted tissue. The eyes reported here achi eved only modest long-term visual and refractive improvements.