American journal of ophthalmology
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Epithelial healing and clinical outcomes in excimer laser photorefractive surgery following three epithelial removal techniques: mechanical, alcohol, and excimer laser.
To evaluate epithelial healing, postoperative pain, and visual and refractive outcomes after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) using three epithelial removal techniques. ⋯ Postoperative pain, subepithelial opacity and BSCVA were similar regardless of the epithelial removal procedure. A faster epithelial healing rate did not result in better visual or refractive outcomes. Using the same nomogram, tPRK resulted in a slight overcorrection, and LASEK resulted in a slight undercorrection.