Keratophakia and keratomileusis--clinical results.

A random, retrospective study was performed on 158 patients. who underwent keratophakia and keratomileusis for the correction of refractive errors. The primary indication for surgery was high anisometropia. Data on corneal curvature modification, refraction, accuracy, stability, and complications are reported. Both keratophakia and hypermetropic keratomileusis are capable of fully correcting aphakic hyperopia. Myopic keratomileusis corrected up to 16 diopters of myopia in this series. Lamellar refractive keratoplasty appears to have no significant detrimental effect on visual acuity. The majority of myopic patients had an improved best-corrected visual acuity postoperatively. High or irregular astigmatism was not noted following this surgery. The stability of the postoperative curvature appeared to be good with both keratophakia and myopic keratomileusis. Complications in this series were minimal, and one resulted in decreased vision postoperatively. Inaccuracy in achieving the desired refractive result appeared to be the major disadvantage of these techniques.