Posters

Corneal scars: a refractive surgery!

Poster Details

First Author: P. Patel INDIA

Co Author(s):    A. Gulani                    

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To explain the concepts of addressing anterior corneal scars with laser PRK straight to 20/20 and building the cornea with various modalities in presenting it for laser PRK.

Setting:

Gulani Vision Institute, Jacksonville, Florida.

Methods:

We suggest a novel method to understand corneal scars and try to use or modify them to help the patient see better. Corneal scars are classified into ‘On- cornea’, ‘In- cornea’ and ‘All- cornea’ and each category of scars is treated distinctly thereby customizing the treatment to the patient. We present prototype cases to better understand each category. By following the proposed protocol, we can treat corneal scars with the same precision as a refractive surgery.

Results:

All the cases of corneal scar presented were treated successfully to excellent visual outcomes. Treatment was brief, topical and minimally invasive with vision being the primary goal.

Conclusions:

Scars in the cornea causes a significant reduction in vision. Current practices aim at eliminating the opacity, often at the cost of vision, rather than treating the patient to achieve good vision.We encourage corneal scar surgeries to be treated as refractive surgeries where the expected outcome is nothing less than perfect unaided vision. Therapeutic PRK is an important tool in dealing with corneal scars.

Financial Disclosure:

NONE