Day 1 wavefront aberrometry for prediction of refractive outcomes at year 1 in myopic LASIK.

Purpose: To determine amount of change in wavefront aberrometric measurements from 1 day to 1 year after myopic LASIK.

Methods: One hundred five eyes of 105 patients underwent wavefront-guided LASIK. Objective wavefront aberrometric refractions were recorded preoperatively, at postoperative day 1, and at postoperative year 1. Subjective manifest refractions were also collected at postoperative year 1.

Results: When comparing objective wavefront aberrometric refractions at postoperative year 1 to postoperative day 1, there was a mean 0.33 diopter spherical equivalent myopic shift. There was no significant difference in the number of eyes within 1.00 diopter of emmetropia spherical equivalent measured by wavefront aberrometric refraction at postoperative day 1 or year 1. There was a correlation of R(2) = 0.14 between degree of preoperative myopia and myopic shift. Higher-order aberrations were overall not increased at day 1 but increased significantly by year 1. Objective aberrometric refractions at postoperative day 1 can be useful in prediction of long-term refractive outcomes.

Conclusions: There is a small myopic shift and an increase in higher-order aberrations when comparing wavefront aberrometry results at postoperative day 1 with those at postoperative 1 year.