Evaluation of corneal haze after transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy

Abstract

Background Transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy (t-PRK) has been associated with diminished wound healing response, hence less refractive regression and haze, compared with other techniques of epithelial removal in PRK. Objectives To evaluate the corneal haze after t-PRK. Patients and methods This prospective highly selectional observational study involved 100 eyes of patients with simple myopia and mixed myopia with astigmatism who underwent t-PRK to correct their vision. Both males and females were included who were age and sex matched. Results The results showed improvement of visual haze along the follow-up period. Comparison of visual haze between follow-up period 1 week after t-PRK and the end of the follow-up period (6 months) revealed the following: after 1 week, mean ± SD visual haze was 1.22 ± 1.19, which decreased to 0.8 ± 1.05 after 1 month, decreased to 0.325 ± 0.605 after 3 months, and then decreased to 0.12 ± 0.356 after 6 months. The results showed a statistically highly significant difference (P Conclusion Preoperative visual acuity, refractive error, ablation depth, and residual stroma can induce corneal haze postoperatively, but most of the corneal hazes disappear with time. However, some need surgical interference.