Posters

Custom PTK technique for Salzmann’s degeneration and other focal stromal pathologies

Poster Details

First Author: S.Awwad LEBANON

Co Author(s):    L. Chacra                    

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To introduce a customized PTK technique which uses a preoperatively generated laser ablation profile to accurately match and ablate the area of the pathology.

Setting:

American University of Beirut Medical Center, Lebanon.

Methods:

A case of mid-peripheral Salzmann’s nodular degeneration causing recurrent epithelial erosion is described. The white to white distance, on a slit-lamp image of the patient’s eye, is measured by a Placido/Scheimpflug analyzer and used as a scale on a Java-based image processing program to extrapolate the focal corneal pathology’s vertical and horizontal dimensions on the corneal plane. The lesion’s depth is measured by corneal OCT. Customized transepithelial PTK, tailored to the exact dimensions of the pathology is then performed in one pass, regionally ablating the area of the pathology only using the Schwind AMARIS Excimer Laser.

Results:

Complete epithelial healing was observed by the 2nd postoperative day with unaltered visual acuity of 20/20. Corneal OCT performed at 1 month and 3 months postoperatively showed near-complete resolution of the lesion. The patient was followed-up for a total of 6 months with no reported symptoms of corneal erosions.

Conclusions:

The application of a customized laser ablation profile in the treatment of Salzmann’s nodular degeneration and other focal stromal pathologies avoids unnecessary epithelial and stromal ablation. This contributes to faster visual recovery and less refractive impact.

Financial Disclosure:

None