Objective:

To determine the eye movement outcomes after excimer laser corneal refractive surgery in myopic patients with or without associated astigmatism.

Methods:

A preexperimental, before-and-after study was carried out with 81 patients (162 eyes) treated with laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy (LASEK) (65 patients) or photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) (16), with intraoperative application of mitomycin-C (MMC) in both cases, and followed for three months. A complete ophthalmologic examination was performed and the following variables were evaluated before and after the surgery: near convergence point, convergence amplitude, divergence and ocular alignment.

Results:

With surgery, a significant increase in the near point of convergence was observed (LASEK-MMC: P=0.000; PRK-MMC: P=0.021). The near and far convergence amplitude tended to decrease, but the difference was not significant (P>0.05). The percentage of patients with near exodeviations increased after LASEK-MMC (26.2 %→60.0 %, P=0.000) and PRK-MMC (18.8 %→81.3 %, P=0.000), while small heterophorias predominated in both cases (LASEK-MMC: 52.3 % and PRK-MMC: 75.0 %).

Conclusions:

With laser photoablative surgery, exodeviations increased after surgery, but these were primarily small heterophorias, although a small number of patients developed new exodeviations.