COMPLICATIONS OF CORNEAL REFRACTIVE SURGERY

The great majority of patients undergoing refractive surgical procedures have normal corneas and, therefore, have access to alternative methods of optical correction. The principal exception would be patients who have had prior corneal transplantation with postoperatively high astigmatism. Because most refractive surgical procedures are thereby elective, it is essential that the safety and efficacy of these procedures be higher than for operations that correct potentially blinding disorders. Refractive corneal procedures utilizing peripheral incisional techniques, such as radial keratotomy (RK), astigmatic procedures, or hexagonal keratotomy, will have different complications from those techniques utilizing lamellar procedures involving the visual axis, such as keratomileusis, keratophakia, epikeratoplasty, or excimer laser ablation.