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Year : 1983  |  Volume : 31  |  Issue : 6  |  Page : 733-734

Anterior keratotomy in myopia


President All India Ophthalmological Society, Adviser in Ophthalmology, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Director, Operation Cataract Project Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Hyderabad, India

Correspondence Address:
P Siva Reddy
President All India Ophthalmological Society, Adviser in Ophthalmology, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Director, Operation Cataract Project Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Hyderabad
India
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Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


PMID: 6676255

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How to cite this article:
Reddy P S. Anterior keratotomy in myopia. Indian J Ophthalmol 1983;31:733-4

How to cite this URL:
Reddy P S. Anterior keratotomy in myopia. Indian J Ophthalmol [serial online] 1983 [cited 2024 Mar 28];31:733-4. Available from: https://journals.lww.com/ijo/pages/default.aspx/text.asp?1983/31/6/733/29313

Near sighted people have tried ways to get rid of their glasses for centuries.

Since the cornea is responsible for such a large proportion of the refractive power of the eye and since surgery of the cornea has gone through such a great deal of development in the past few decades, attention if focussed on the subject of modification of the refractive index of the cornea.

Few years ago Prof. S.N. Fyodorov of USSR, developed a new surgical technique for correcting myopia. He described his surgical operation as dissection ligamentum circular corna. It is popularly known as "Anterior Keratotomy".

So far I have performed nearly 500 radial keratotomy operations at the Institute of Ophthalmology and Sarojini Devi Eye Hospi­tal and this has ben also published in the American Journal "Ophthalmic Surgery" (Col.11, No. 11,Nov. 1980).

In this paper I like to discuss the objectives of our poroposed study in India so that we can determine the (1) efficiency, (2) safety (3) per­formance and predictability of a standard ra­dial keratotomy procedure in reducing myopia in our country.

Reasons to perform Radial Keratotomy:

As all of you know, there are three major reasons to perform radial keratotomy (1) to achieve professional goals; for example in pilots, professional dancers, Athelets and other type of workers, who often cannot func­tion properly with glasses or contact lenses. (2) Simple, convenience; some individuals have an intolerence for spectacles or contact lenses and (3) for cosmetic purposes. Previous surgical attempts to correct myopia:

For the last 30 years some direct methods have been employed to eliminate myopia byre-shaping the cornea. These methods are (1) Myopia Keratomileusis, (2) Anterior and Posterior half corneal incisions (3) Or­thokeratology and (4) Thermo-keratoplasty. Survey of Radial Keratotomy:

It consists of a series of equally spaced radial spoke like incisions made deeply into the an­terior cornea. That leaves a central 3 - 5mm clear optical zone.The normal pressure within eye pushes the weakened peripheral cornea forward so that the central cornea flattens. So far the technique has not been standardised re­garding the number of incisions, length and depth of the incision etc. They vary from one eye surgeon to the other eye surgeon.

I like to bring to your notice certain consid­erations which we have tokeep in our minds regarding this surgery. (1) There is a need for the surgery as large number of myopic indi­viduals would like to avoid wearing glasses or contact lenses. (2) Current evidences indicate that the operations can be safe and effective al­though the procedure has not been studied ac­cording toregorous scientific standards and the long term results are still un-known. (3) Large number of radial keratotomies are being done in India as well as other countries and the procedure is in danger of becoming popular before it can be adequately tested.

In conclusion I strongly recommend that a prospective carefully monitored, multi-centre clinical trials of radial keratotomy, atleast for 5 years durain, should be carried out in humans in our country for the following reasons:

1. There is intensive interest on the part of the ophthalmic community and myopia pub­lic.

2. Large number of cases are being done in India and number of surgeons training to do the operations is rapidly increasing.

3. While normal studies in animals can give information about alteration in corneal shape and objective refraction, they cannot give in­formation about subjective response which is extremely important, in terms of quality of vis­ual acuity, patient satisfaction with the level acuity and the patient's reaction to glare and fluctuations in vision.

4. Although some data is available aboutra­dial keratotomy in human eyes, no long term follow up studies, and the short term studies give information only on refraction and keratometry in broad groups.

5. There is enough experience to humans to justify proceding with a very careful trial, since severe complications are extremely rare and reduction in best corrected preoperative visual acuity occurs infrequently.

6. There are presently, In India, no carefully monitored uniformely designed prospective clinical studies.

As such I suggest in India there can be about 6 yo 8 clinical centres and a coordinating centre. Using multiple surge-ns has the ad­vantage of comparing results of a single technique in the hands of different surgeons with different aims, radial keratotomy experi­ence, a situation simulating with active prac­tice.




 

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