Effect of laser in situ keratomileusis and laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy on retinal nerve fiber layer thickness

Abstract

Laser in situ keratomileusis and LASEK did not significantly affect the RNFL thickness parameters postoperatively.

Astigmatism and optical coherence tomography measurements

“…However, when magnification effect was adjusted, no significant association between refractive error and average RNFL thickness was found [7,8]. According to the study results with refractive surgery, RNFL thickness was not significantly affected by corneal refractive surgery [13][14][15]. Salchow et al [16] reported that refractive error change induced by contact lens without astigmatic power (+4, +10, −4, −10 D) did not affect RNFL thickness On the other hand, Lee et al [17] assessed the effect of refractive error change after wearing soft contact lenses of eight different diopters without astigmatic power (−6 to +8) on RNFL thickness measured by Cirrus HD OCT, and reported that RNFL thickness was underestimated in eyes with increasing negative refractive error and overestimated with increasing positive refractive error.…”

“…Various studies investigated the association between refractive error and RNFL thickness [4][5][6][7][8] and the effect of refractive error change induced by refractive surgery [13][14][15] or contact lens [16,17] on RNFL thickness measured by OCT. In cross-sectional studies, average RNFL of myopic eyes was thinner than that of non-myopic eyes [4][5][6][7][8].…”

“…Various studies have been conducted for evaluation of the effect of corneal refractive surgery on RNFL thickness measured by OCT [13][14][15]. However, little has been reported on the effect of astigmatism change after refractive surgery on RNFL thickness.…”

“…Among these factors, the effect of spherical refractive error on OCT measurement has been investigated by studies with cross-sectional design [4][5][6][7][8], comparison of RNFL thickness before and after corneal refractive surgery [13][14][15], and analyzing RNFL thickness change after refractive error change induced by contact lens [16,17]. However, little is known about the effect of cylindrical refractive error (astigmatism) on RNFL and macular thickness measured by OCT.…”

Evaluation of the retinal nerve fiber layer measurements, after photorefractive keratectomy and laser in situ keratomileusis, using scanning laser polarimetry (GDX VCC)

“…Previous studies have suggested that RNFL measurement values determined by scanning laser polarimetry with the fixed corneal compensator are adversely affected by the LASIK procedure, and have raised the concern that the observed changes could be the result of damage induced by the transient elevation of pressure. These changes were not seen when techniques that do not rely on ocular birefringence were used, such as scanning laser tomography or optical coherence tomography [21,22]. Thus, it seemed reasonable to hypothesize that the alterations in RNFL measurements with SLP were artifacts due primarily to a change in the corneal birefringence after LASIK.…”