Mechanical vs. Laser Epithelial Removal in the Treatment of Post-PRK Haze

OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy of secondary photorefractive keratectomy in the treatment of corneal haze, comparing the results obtained with 2 methods of treatment: group A, mechanical removal of the epithelium followed by ablation with scanning system; group B, laser ablation of epithelium and large area ablation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Regression rate, best corrected visual acuity, haze. RESULTS: Regression was higher in group A achieving only 21.63% of the attempted correction, while in group B we obtained a 97.37% correction. Haze was nearly unchanged in group A (from a mean value of 1.69 preoperatively to 1.63 postoperatively), while it improved in group B from 1.71 preoperatively to 0.5 postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: Laser removal of the epithelium and large area ablation seems to be a safer and more effective method for treating corneal haze than manual debridement and scanning ablation.