Background: To identify possible differences between laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy and epipolis laser in situ keratomileusis for myopia.
Design: Meta-analysis.
Participants: Patients from previously reported comparative studies treated by laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy versus epipolis laser in situ keratomileusis.
Methods: A systematic literature retrieval was conducted in the MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Library, up to January 2013. The included studies were subject to a meta-analysis using a RevMan 5.1 version software.
Main outcome measures: The differences in efficacy, predictability, safety, epithelial healing time, pain perception and corneal haze formation.
Results: A total of six studies involving 517 eyes were included. There were no statistically significant differences in the final proportion of eyes with uncorrected visual acuity of 6/6 or better (P = 0.43), mean postoperative uncorrected visual acuity (P = 0.53), final proportion of eyes with refraction within ± 0.50 D (P = 0.62) and ± 1.00 D (P = 0.16) of target, final proportion of eyes losing two or more lines of best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (P = 1.00), healing time of corneal epithelium (P = 0.58), final proportion of eyes with corneal haze grade 0.5 or higher (P = 0.26), and corneal haze levels (P = 0.36).
Conclusions: There were no significant differences in efficacy, predictability, safety, epithelial healing time and corneal haze formation between laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy and epipolis laser in situ keratomileusis, but the result was limited. Future more data are required to detect the potential differences between the two procedures.
Keywords: Epi-LASIK; LASEK; meta-analysis; myopia.
© 2013 Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists.