Variation in corneal asphericity in myopic patients undergoing refractive LASIK (laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis) or LASEK (laser-assisted subepithelial keratomileusis) surgery

Abstract

<em><strong>Objective</strong><em> To analyze, through a systematic review of literature, the variation in corneal asphericity in myopic patients corrected with LASIK (laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis) or LASEK (laser-assisted subepithelial keratomileusis) surgery. <em><strong>Methodology</strong><em> A literature search for primary studies was performed in PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct using the Vantage Point software, and 229 publications were collected 19 of them met the inclusion criteria and were selected. The quality of these 19 articles was assessed using the FLC Web 2.0 platform for critical reading, based on the STROBE statement. The search used keywords such as corneal asphericity, corneal shape factor, Q-value, LASIK (laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis), LASEK (laser-assisted subepithelial keratomileusis), and refractive surgery. <em><strong>Results</strong><em> 18 of the evaluated articles had medium quality, and one of them had low quality. The articles agree on that there are changes in corneal asphericity after refractive surgery, from prolate to oblate, significantly affecting visual results. <em><strong>Conclusions</strong><em> The analysis of these 19 articles evidenced a change in asphericity from prolate to oblate and revealed the factors influencing these variations, as well as the need for improving surgical techniques and deficiencies in research, since 95% of the analyzed articles had average quality.