The use of epikeratophakia grafts in pediatric monocular aphakia.

Epikeratophakia is a form of refractive surgery in which the recipient's epithelium is removed and a pre-shaped donor lenticule is sutured to the patient's cornea. Seventeen patients ranging in age from two months to 6.6 years received 19 epikeratophakia grafts for the correction of aphakic vision. The correction provided by the graft in combination with vigorous amblyopia therapy has yielded some improvement in vision in the 12 patients with successful grafts. This procedure may be particularly suitable for pediatric aphakic patients because it is extraocular and reversible and may be employed as a secondary procedure or in conjunction with cataract extraction. Only with longer follow-up of these and additional patients can these preliminary results be validated and the risk/benefit ratio of this procedure be assessed.