Changes in relative peripheral refraction and optical quality in Chinese myopic patients after small incision lenticule extraction surgery

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 18; no. 10; p. e0291681
• Main Authors: Du, Yuqin, Zhou, Yuehua, Ding, Mingwei, Zhang, Mingxu, Guo, Yujuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 04-10-2023; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Aberration; Biology and Life Sciences; Care and treatment; Complications and side effects; Contact lenses; Cornea; Correlation; Diagnosis; Engineering and Technology; Eye surgery; Horizontal cells; Hospitals; Informed consent; Lasers in surgery; Medical research; Medicine and Health Sciences; Medicine, Experimental; Multivariate analysis; Myopia; Optical properties; Optometry; Patient outcomes; Refraction; Regression analysis; Retina; Statistical analysis; Surgery; Topography; Visual acuity; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291681

To observe changes in retinal refraction difference values (RDV) and aberrations after small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) surgery and evaluate their correlations. This study recruited 112 patients (112 eyes) who underwent SMILE for myopia. Participants were classified into the Low and Moderate Myopia group (LM, -0.50 to -6.0 D) and High Myopia group (HM, >-6.0 D) according to the central spherical equivalent (SE). RDVs in the five retinal eccentricities from 0° to 10°, 10° to 20°, 20° to 30°, 30° to 40°, and 40° to 53° are recorded as RDV-(0-10), RDV-(10-20), RDV-(20-30), RDV-(30-40), and RDV-(40-53), respectively; additionally, RDVs have four sectors, i.e., RDV-Superior (RDV-S), RDV-Inferior (RDV-I), RDV-Temporal (RDV-T), and RDV-Nasal (RDV-N). With a 3-month follow-up, changes in RDV ([DELTA]RDV) and changes in aberrations [[DELTA]trefoil, [DELTA]coma, [DELTA]spherical aberration (SA), and [DELTA]total higher-order aberrations (HOA)] after surgery were recorded. No significant differences were observed in total RDV (TRDV), RDV-(0-53), RDV-S, RDV-I, RDV-N, trefoil, coma, and SA between the two groups before SMILE surgery. However, after SMILE, hyperopic defocus values [TRDV, RDV-(20-53), RDV-S, RDV-T, and RDV-N] in the LM group and hyperopic defocus values [TRDV, RDV-(20-53), RDV-S, and RDV-N] in the HM group were significantly lower at 3 months postoperatively than preoperatively, and the RDV-(40-53), RDV-S, and RDV-N were lower in the HM group than in the LM group. Aberrations [trefoil (vertical), coma, and HOA] in the LM group and aberrations (trefoil, coma, SA, and HOA) in the HM group were significantly higher at 3 months postoperatively than preoperatively, and the coma, trefoil(horizontal), SA, and HOA were higher in the HM group than in the LM group. In the multivariate analysis, [DELTA]RDV-(40-53) was significantly correlated with [DELTA]SA, and [DELTA]RDV-T and [DELTA]RDV-N were significantly correlated with [DELTA]coma (horizontal). Our findings suggest that SMILE reduces retinal peripheral hyperopic defocus but introduces some higher-order aberrations, especially in people with high myopia refractive errors.