Corneal clarity measurements in patients with myopia undergoing laser assisted in situ keratomileusis and laser assisted sub‐epithelial keratectomy

Purpose To compare the preoperative and postoperative corneal densitometry of patients undergoing Laser Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK) and Laser Assisted Sub‐epithelial Keratectomy (LASAK) and to determine how result differed between the 2 types of surgery. Methods A retrospective and comparative study was performed at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital,UK. Preoperative and postoperative corneal densitometry data were collected from the Oculus Pentacam. The data were taken at 3 corneal depths (anterior,centre and posterior) and at 3 corneal annulus ring diameter (0‐2 mm, 2‐6 mm and 6‐10 mm). Postoperative data were collected at the time 6 weeks, 3 and 6 months post treatment.Quality of vision pre and post‐surgery was determined by BCVA. Results Data of 60 eyes from 16 LASIK and 14 LASEK patients were collected with a mean age of 37.06 ± 10.0 and 37.7 ± 6.6 respectively. There was statistically significant increase of corneal densitometry in all concentric zones in all corneal layers after 6 weeks in the LASIK treatment group (p