Diamond Burr Polishing of Bowman’s Layer in the Treatment of Subepithelial Fibrosis after Radial Keratotomy (Clinical Case)

Abstract

Radial keratotomy (RK) was widely used at the end of the last century for refractive purposes. However, ophthalmologists are increasingly faced with negative long-term consequences after RK now. A relatively rare complication after RK is subepithelial fibrosis (according to some data, it occurs in 2.7 % of cases), which may be the result of abnormal activation or proliferation of stromal keratocytes (stromal fibroblasts) after surgical or accidental injury of the Bowman membrane. Phototherapeutic keratectomy and manual mechanical removal by the “scraper” are used for the removal of fibrous tissue, as well as a combination of these methods with mitomycin. Since laser energy can provoke a recurrence of fibrosis in the future due to the activation of stromal keratocytes and using “scraper” is not always possible to remove fibrotic tissue and the use of mitomycin is associated with a number of complications, the question of finding new methods for its removal with minimal risk of complications arises. The method of diamond burr polishing of the cornea, which developed by us for treating the syndrome of recurrent cornea erosion, was, in our opinion, the most optimal for this purpose. The method of diamond burr polishing of the cornea in this clinical case made it possible to remove the epithelial fibrosis zone without damaging the Bowman’s layer, thereby avoiding the recurrence of fibrosis in the postoperative period (the follow-up period was 2 years). The depth of the location pathological tissue location was assessed using the OCT of the cornea. The absence of recurrence is also confirmed biomicroscopically and with the OCT of the cornea. So, the method of diamond burr polishing of the Bowman’s layer can be a method of choice for the treatment of subepithelial fibrosis for patients after keratorefractive operations, being highly effective, accessible, easy to perform.