Ten-year follow-up of laser in situ keratomileusis for high myopia

PURPOSE: To evaluate the long-term outcomes of laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for high myopia. DESIGN: A long-term (10 years) follow-up retrospective interventional case series study. METHODS: The study included 196 myopic eyes of 118 patients with a mean preoperative spherical equivalent of -13.95 +/- 2.79 diopter (D) treated with myopic LASIK at the Instituto Oftalmológico de Alicante, Spain using the VISX 20/20 excimer laser (VISX Inc, Santa Monica, California, USA) and the Automated Corneal Shaper microkeratome (Chiron Vision, Irvine, California, USA). All patients were evaluated three months, one year, two years, five years, and 10 years postoperatively. The main outcome measures were refractive predictability and stability, mean corneal keratometry, topographical cylinder, safety, efficacy, stability of visual acuity, and postoperative complications. RESULTS: At 10 years, 82 (42%) of 196 eyes were within +/-1.00 D and 119 (61%) were within +/-2.00 D. Fifty-four (27.5%) eyes underwent retreatments attributable to under correction and/or regression. The myopic regression decreases with time in eyes that did not undergo retreatment with a mean rate of -0.25 +/- 0.18 D per year. Eleven eyes (5%) lost more than 2 lines of best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) and 78 eyes (40%) showed a postoperatively uncorrected visual acuity of 20/40 or better. Two eyes (1%) with more than 15 D myopic correction developed corneal ectasia. CONCLUSIONS: LASIK for myopia over -10 D is a safe procedure with myopic regression that slows down with time and a high rate of BSCVA increase in the long-term.