Purpose: To evaluate the ablation centration after active eye-tracker-assisted photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) and to investigate the effect of surgery, patient, and surgeon on the centration.
Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, China Medical College Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Methods: This retrospective study comprised 177 eyes of 101 patients: 16 eyes had PRK and 161, LASIK. All laser treatments were performed with the aid of an eye tracker. The amount of decentration was analyzed by corneal topography. The factors influencing centration were divided into surgery related (PRK/LASIK), patient related (low/high myopia and effect of learning), and surgeon related (learning curve).
Results: The mean decentration was 0.33 mm in PRK eyes and 0.35 mm in LASIK eyes. For the surgery-related factor, there was no significant difference between the PRK and LASIK eyes. For the patient-related factors, centration was better in the second eye (effect of learning) and decentration was more severe in eyes with high myopia (low/high myopia). For the surgeon-related factor, there was no significant difference between eyes that had the first 50 LASIK procedures and those that had the last 50 procedures.
Conclusions: An eye tracker, which makes the laser beam follow the eye's movements, helps to avoid severe decentration. This study showed, however, that an active eye-tracking system alone cannot ensure good centration. Patient cooperation and fixation are important.