Comparison of wavefront-guided photorefractive keratectomy and foldable iris-fixated phakic intraocular lens implantation for low to moderate myopia

Purpose To compare and evaluate the visual and refractive outcomes of myopic wavefront-guided photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and foldable phakic intraocular lens (pIOL) implantation for myopia. Setting Department of Ophthalmology, Haaglanden Medical Center, The Hague, The Netherlands. Design Comparative case series. Methods The differences in visual acuity and residual refractive outcomes after wavefront-guided PRK and Artiflex foldable pIOL implantation were compared in eyes with low to moderate myopia (spherical error −4.0 to −7.0 diopters [D]; maximum cylinder 2.25 D). One-year follow-up results are presented. Results At 1 year postoperatively, the mean decimal Snellen uncorrected distance visual acuity was 1.05 ± 0.21 (SD) in the PRK group (60 eyes) and 1.04 ± 0.21 in the pIOL group (33 eyes) and the mean corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), 1.21 ± 0.18 and 1.24 ± 0.13, respectively. In the PRK group, 21.7% of eyes lost 1 to 3 lines of CDVA and 11.7% of eyes gained 1 or 2 lines. In the pIOL group, no eye lost lines of CDVA and 42% gained 1 or 2 lines. At 1 year, 80.0% of eyes in the PRK group and 90.9% of eyes in the pIOL group were within ±0.50 D of the spherical equivalent. Conclusion There were no statistically significant differences in safety and efficacy between the pIOL group and the PRK group at 1 year. However, the percentage of eyes that gained lines of CDVA was significantly higher in the pIOL group. Financial Disclosure No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.