Objective: To assess the safety and efficacy of excimer laser treatment of myopic astigmatism and to compare this with the excimer laser treatment of myopia.
Design: A prospective, open study of consecutive patients having excimer laser treatment of myopic astigmatism or myopia.
Settings: Patients were recruited from 18 private ophthalmic practices.
Patients: Fifty-four eyes received treatment for astigmatism and 66 eyes for myopia. One patient was lost to follow-up, and another underwent an ineffective ablation.
Interventions: A VISX Twenty/Twenty excimer laser was used to perform either photoastigmatic refractive keratectomy or photorefractive keratectomy.
Main outcome measures: Refraction and visual acuity with and without correction were assessed preoperatively and postoperatively.
Results: At 6 months, 17 (85%) of the 20 patients receiving photoastigmatic refractive keratectomy were within 1 diopter of plano refraction, and 19 (95%) of 20 had uncorrected visual acuity of 6/12 (20/40) or better. For patients receiving photorefractive keratectomy, these figures were 28 (88%) of 32 patients and 28 (88%) of 32 patients, respectively.
Conclusions: Excimer laser surgery offers an effective option in the treatment of myopic astigmatism.