[Phototherapeutic keratectomy in the treatment of superficial corneal diseases].

In the retrospective study the authors evaluate clinical results of phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) that is one of the alternative methods used in treatment of some of the superficial corneal diseases. The authors present the group of 89 eyes of 63 patients with diagnose: dry spot corneae in 69 eyes (77.5%), recurrent corneal erosion in 13 eyes (14.5%), corneal dystrophy in 2 eyes (1.8%), recurrent herpes simplex keratitis in 3 eyes (2.7%), recurrent pterygium in 2 eyes (1.8%), atopic keratoconjunctivitis with mucous plaque in 1 eye (0.9%). The average age was 45.2 years (14-84 years) and average follow-up period was 29 months (3-52 months). The operation was done with the use of device Keracor 117 (ArF excimer laser) in topical anaesthesia, with the average zone of ablation 4.1 mm and average depth of ablation 24 mu in one go. In ten cases was the operation carried out repeatedly. We evaluated the postoperative complications, postoperative changes of refraction and final the best corrected visual acuity. For low percentage of postoperative complications, decrease or disappearance of subjective difficulties and improvement of visual acuity with minimal stress for the patient we can recommend PTK as save and efficient method in treatment of corneal diseases mentioned above.