title: Ten-year follow-up of photorefractive keratectomy for myopia of less than -6 diopters.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the long-term outcomes of excimer laser myopic photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) for myopia of less than -6 diopters (D).
  
  
  METHODS
  Long-term (10-year) follow-up retrospective, interventional case series.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 225 eyes of 138 myopic patients with spherical equivalent (SE) between 0 and -6 D treated with myopic PRK at the Instituto Oftalmológico de Alicante, Alicante, Spain, using the VISX 20/20 excimer laser (Santa Clara, California, USA). The main outcome measures were refractive predictability and stability, mean corneal keratometry, topographical cylinder, safety, efficacy, stability of visual acuity, and postoperative complications.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At 10 years, 169 (75%) of 225 eyes were within +/- 1.00 D and 207 (92%) were within +/- 2.00 D. Ninety-five (42%) eyes underwent retreatments because of overcorrection, regression, or both. The mean SE slightly decreased (myopic regression) with a mean magnitude of -0.10 +/- 1.08 D over 10 years (-0.01 +/- 0.11 D per year). Forty-one (58%) of 225 eyes demonstrated increase in best spectacle-corrected visual acuity after 10 years. Only one eye lost eight lines because of significant cataract, and two eyes lost vision (one lost seven lines and the other lost four lines) because of posterior segment-related complications. The mean corneal haze score gradually decreased from 0.22 +/- 0.39 at three months to 0.01 +/- 0.09 at 10 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Photorefractive keratectomy for myopia of less than -6 D is a safe and effective procedure in the long-term.
authors.affiliation: Vissum-Instituto Oftalmológico de Alicante and Division of Ophthalmology, Miguel Hernandez University Medical School, Alicante, Spain. jlalio@oftalio.com
authors.forename: Jorge L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Alió
authors.forename: Orkun
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Muftuoglu
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ortiz
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Artola
authors.forename: Juan J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Pérez-Santonja
authors.forename: Gracia Castro
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: de Luna
authors.forename: Sabat K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Abu-Mustafa
authors.forename: Maria Jose
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Garcia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003315:Cornea / Q000503:physiopathology; D019781:Corneal Topography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D054018:Lasers, Excimer; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009216:Myopia / Q000145:classification / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D018903:Photorefractive Keratectomy; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012029:Refraction, Ocular / Q000502:physiology; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology