Retreatment of central islands after photorefractive keratectomy

Purpose: To evaluate excimer laser retreatment of central islands and the refractive consequences. Setting: Departement d'Ophtalmologie, Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite Laval, Quebec City, and Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Methods: In this study, 22 eyes retreated for central islands were retrospectively analyzed. All initial corrections and retreatments were performed with the Chiron Technolas Keracor 116 laser. Results: A marked decrease in symptoms was observed in almost all cases. Topographic analysis confirmed these results but revealed persistence of minimal islands in several cases. Retreatment of central islands also induced a small myopic correction. Using a 2.5 mm zone, the mean induced refractive effect was 0.21 diopter of myopic correction per diopter of retreatment. Conclusion: Retreatment of central islands appeared safe, was relatively easy, and provided good results with a rapid recovery.