The first study to document the safety and effectiveness of the use of
excimer lasers to treat a variety of eye maladies in children was published
today in the September edition of the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
The primary purpose of the study was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness
of procedures using excimer lasers (phototherapeutic keratectomy, PTK, or
photorefractive keratotomy, PRK, with PTK) to improve vision and reduce or
eliminate pain, tearing, and excessive sensitivity to light in children who
ranged from 8 years to 18 years. The study is significant because it followed a
fairly large number of patients, 41 children (41 eyes), for a relatively long
period, an average of 5 years after their operations. The excimer lasers are of
the same type used to perform LASIK and other vision correction procedures in
adults.
"This study indicates that lasers are offering pediatric ophthalmologists the
ability to treat a variety of eye conditions with greater precision and control
than are afforded by traditional means," said M. Edward Wilson, MD, chairman of
the Pediatric Clinical Committee of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and
chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Storm Eye Institute at
the Medical University of South Carolina.
"The traditional way of removing scars and calcifications on children's
corneas (the clear, outermost part of the eye) involves the manual scraping or
debriding of the cornea with ophthalmic instruments," Wilson said. "Lasers allow
the removal of tissue by ablating it with a precision that can be measured in
thousandths of a millimeter, a definite improvement over manual techniques," he
said.