PRK Complications

PRK Complications

Some complications that can be temporary or permanent include:

• Dry eyes^[17]
• Recurrent erosions during sleep
• Long healing period
• Pain
• Glare, halos, or starburst aberrations
• Increased ocular straylight
• Under- or over-correction
• Recurrence of myopia
• Corneal haze
• Scarring
• Reduced best corrected visual acuity
• Reduced acuity in low light
• Increased sensitivity

Dry eyes 

As with other forms of refractive surgery, keratoconjunctivitis sicca, colloquially referred to as 'dry eye,' is the most common complication of PRK, and can be permanent. In more advanced cases, recurrent erosions occur during sleeping from adherence of the corneal epithelium to the upper eyelid with rapid eye movement. Adjuvant polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) with high Omega-3 content before and after surgery improves sicca, possibly due to their anti-inflammatory effects. Foods containing PUFAs include flax and fish oil. Brush PRK to denude the epithelium, instead of alcohol based techniques, also result in quantitatively lower ocular dryness after surgery. The amount of corneal hazing after surgery is also decreased with brush technique. The platelet activating factor LAU-0901 has shown effect in mitigating dry eye in mouse models. Rabbit models have also shown improvement with topical nerve growth factor (NGF) in combination with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Mitomycin C worsens post-surgical dry eye.

PRK may be performed on one eye at a time to assess the results of the procedure and ensure adequate vision during the healing process. Activities requiring good binocular vision may have to be suspended between surgeries and during the sometimes extended healing periods.

Halos, starbusts and refractive errors 

PRK can be associated with glare, halos, and starburst aberrations, which can occur with postoperative corneal haze during the healing process. Night halos are seen more often in revisions with small ablation zone size. With more recent developments in laser technology, this is less common after 6 months though symptoms can persist beyond a year in some cases. A dilute concentration of the chemotherapeutic agent, Mitomycin-C, can be applied briefly at the completion of surgery to reduce risk of hazing, although with increased risk of sicca

Predictability of the resulting refractive correction after healing is not totally exact, particularly for those with more severe myopia. This can lead to under/over-correction of the refractive error. In the case of the over-correction, premature presbyopia is a possibility. Experienced surgeons employ a custom-profile algorithm to further enhance predictability in their results.

In 1 to 3% of cases, loss of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) can result, due to decentered ablative zones or other surgical complications. PRK results in improved BCVA about twice as often as it causes loss. Decentration is becoming less and less of a problem with more modern lasers using sophisticated eye centering and tracking methods.