Diamond burr superficial keratectomy in the treatment of visually-significant anterior corneal lesions.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of diamond burr superficial keratectomy in the treatment of visually-significant anterior corneal lesions.


METHODS
A retrospective review of 23 eyes (23 patients). Pre- and postoperative visual acuities and refractions, slit-lamp biomicroscopic findings, and the incidence of recurrence of disease after keratectomy were studied.


RESULTS
Nineteen eyes had map-dot-fingerprint basement membrane dystrophy and 4 had Salzmann's nodular degeneration. All patients presented with decreased vision, as well as varying degrees of glare, halos, and monocular diplopia. Postoperative follow-up ranged from 3 to 39 months (mean 10.6 months), and no recurrence of the original disease occurred within this period. This procedure improved the best-corrected visual acuity from 20/36 (LogMar 0.250) to 20/24 (LogMar 0.076) by LogMar statistical evaluation (p<0.001) and caused a statistically non-significant (p=0.232) myopic change in the mean refractive spherical equivalent (-0.36 diopter +/- SD 2.28 preoperatively to -0.71 +/- 2.26 postoperatively). Glare and monocular diplopia were subjectively reduced or eliminated in all patients. One patient had mild anterior stromal haze which decreased the bestcorrected visual acuity from 20/25 to 20/30.


CONCLUSIONS
Diamond burr superficial keratectomy appears to be an effective and safe method of removing visually-significant anterior corneal opacities.
Malta
João Baptista Nigro Santiago
JB
Division of Cornea, External Disease and Refractive Surgery, W. K. Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan Medical School, Michigan, USA.
Soong
Hunson Kaz
HK
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003315:Cornea / Q000601:surgery*; D003317:Corneal Dystrophies, Hereditary / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D018130:Diamond; D004172:Diplopia / Q000503:physiopathology; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011300:Preoperative Care; D012008:Recurrence; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000503:physiopathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology
D018130:Diamond