# Femtosecond laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis for the correction of residual ametropia after penetrating keratoplasty: 1-year follow-up

## TL;DR

This study shows that femtosecond laser-assisted surgery can safely and effectively correct vision problems after corneal transplants.

## Contribution

The study demonstrates the safety and efficacy of Femto-LASIK for correcting residual refractive errors after penetrating keratoplasty.

## Key findings

- Uncorrected distance visual acuity improved significantly at 48 weeks after surgery.
- Spherical and cylindrical refractive errors were significantly reduced post-surgery.
- No intraoperative or postoperative complications were observed in the study.

## Abstract

After an optimal corneal transplantation, a residual refractive error is possible due to several factors. We evaluated the 1-yr follow up of laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis using femtosecond laser (LASIK) for the correction of residual ametropia after penetrating keratoplasty (PK).

Ten eyes of 10 patients were treated using corneal Femto-LASIK (F-LASIK) (WaveLight® Refractive Suite, Alcon) to correct refractive errors after PK at Careggi Teaching Hospital (Florence, Italy). The main outcomes included uncorrected and corrected distance visual acuity (UDVA, CDVA), preoperative and postoperative manifest refraction, and corneal topography. All patients were evaluated the day after surgery and 1, 4, 12, 24, 48 weeks later.

At the 48-week follow up, all patients showed a significant improvement in their UDVA (mean: 0.95 ± 0.29 LogMAR vs 0.50 ± 0.22 LogMAR, p<0.05) as well as in the spherical equivalent value (SE) (mean: -4.50 ± 2.37 vs. -1.55 ± 0.77, p<0.05), the cylindrical ametropia (mean: -6.13 ± 2.04 vs. -3.20 ± 2.15, p<0.05) and the CDVA also improved (median 0.26 [0.1-0.9] vs 0.22 [0.1-0.4] LogMAR, p<00.05). These values were observed from the 12-week follow up onwards. Post-operative spherical ametropia was not statistically significant. Intraoperative and postoperative complications were not detected.

UDVA significantly improved using Femto-LASIK without surgical complications. The refractive results were stable from the 3-mth to the 1-yr follow ups. Femto-LASIK is an effective and safe choice to treat post-PK refractive errors.