Clinical outcomes of photoastigmatic refractive keratectomy for the correction of residual refractive errors following cataract surgery.

Purpose: To assess the clinical outcomes of photoastigmatic refractive keratectomy (PARK) for the correction of residual refractive errors after cataract surgery.

Methods: This study evaluated 88 eyes of 66 consecutive patients with mean spherical equivalent refraction of -3.16±1.71 diopters (D) who underwent PARK to correct refractive errors after phacoemulsification with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. Patient age at the time of surgery was 65.2±12.7 years. Safety, efficacy, predictability, stability, and adverse events of the surgery were assessed 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively.

Results: At 1 year postoperatively, uncorrected distance visual acuity and corrected distance visual acuity were 0.08±0.16 logMAR (Snellen 20/25) and -0.08±0.11 logMAR (Snellen 20/16), respectively. Safety and efficacy indices were 1.08±0.25 and 0.76±0.28, respectively. At 1 year, 68% of eyes were within ±0.50 D and 88% were within ±1.00 D of targeted correction. Manifest refraction changes of -0.06±1.06 D occurred from 1 week to 1 year. No vision-threatening complications occurred during the observation period.

Conclusions: Photoastigmatic refractive keratectomy is safe and moderately effective in the correction of residual refractive errors in pseudophakic eyes, suggesting its viability as a surgical option for the treatment of such eyes.