Purpose: Our purpose was to assess the effect of LASEK surgery on ocular rigidity and to compare its effect on intraocular pressure (IOP) readings with Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT), Schiøtz indentation tonometry (ST) and dynamic contour tonometry (DCT).
Methods: Prospective, observational, single-masked cohort study. One eye per patient from 31 consecutive subjects who underwent LASEK refractive surgery to correct myopia, as well as from 108 non-operated myopic patients, were included. IOP was measured using GAT, DCT, and ST. The coefficient of ocular rigidity (Ko) was obtained from the regression line of the three readings obtained with each weight of the ST. Linear multiple regression analysis was performed with dummy variables to assess the effect of age, central corneal thickness (CCT), and previous refractive surgery on IOP values.
Results: Age, CCT, and LASEK surgery explained 23% of the IOP readings with GAT, 11% with DCT, and had no significant influence on ST readings. The IOP readings obtained with GAT and DCT, but not with ST, were significantly different between LASEK and control groups. Significant differences in Ko were observed between LASEK (0.014 mmHg/μL ±0.007) and control groups (0.021 mmHg/μL ±0.013) (P = 0.001). Ko values were not related with age or CCT, in either LASEK or control groups.
Conclusions: ST readings seems to be less affected by LASEK surgery than the other tonometers evaluated. There is a difference in the ocular rigidity between the control and the LASEK eyes that it is not correlated with CCT, so it seems that ST can detect changes in the biomechanical behavior of the LASEK operated corneas.
Keywords: Dynamic contour tonometry; Goldmann applanation tonometry; LASEK; Ocular rigidity; Schiøtz tonometry.