Upon investigating the outcomes of LASIK in the treatment of myopia, researchers found that performing the surgery on Asian eyes is safe and effective.

This single-center, prospective, non-randomized study analyzed 53,731 eyes of 27,312 patients who underwent myopic LASIK between 1998 and 2015. The team recorded preoperative and postoperative refractions, uncorrected visual acuities (UCVA), best-corrected Snellen visual acuities (BCVA) and complications of eyes undergoing myopic LASIK. They also evaluated safety, efficacy, refractive predictability, treatment trends, retreatment rates and complication rates.

The researchers found that the overall efficacy index was 0.91, the overall safety index was >1.05, the overall complication rate was 0.98% and the annual complication rate has been <0.8%. They note that >99% of eyes achieved an UCVA of ≥20/40, and >70% achieved 20/20, while 95.43% of eyes had no loss of vision postoperatively, and 4.2% and 0.37% lost one and ≥2 lines of BCVA, respectively. The team adds that more than 94.0% of eyes achieved within ±1.0D of the target refraction, and at least 70% achieved within ±0.50D of the target. They also discovered that the retreatment rate was 2.55%, and after retreatment, 98.4% of eyes achieved ≥20/40 UCVA and 63.5% achieved ≥20/20 UCVA.

“In recent years, there has been negative media publicity in several countries about LASIK based on anecdotal patient experiences,” says Mohamad Rosman, FRCSEd, FAMS. “These data can be used in clinical practice to highlight to patients the current high levels of LASIK efficacy and safety with adherence to appropriate clinical practices.”