Short-term Comparison of Refractive Errors between Two Different Age Groups after LASEK for Moderate Myopia

Purpose: To investigate the safety of laser epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK) by drawing a comparison between two groups divided according to age (18-19 vs. 20-21 years old).Methods: The study was conducted as a retrospective analysis including 339 patients (678 eyes) who underwent LASEK between January 2017 and April 2020. Patients were divided by age group, group I (18-19 years old) and group II (20-21 years old). The objectives of the study included determination of visual acuity and refractive errors before and at 1, 3, and 6 months after the procedure.Results: The preoperative mean spherical equivalents (SEs) were -4.73 ± 0.88 diopters (D) in group I and -4.58 ± 0.87 D in group II (<i>p</i> = 0.34). At 1 month postoperatively, mean SEs were 0.32 ± 0.46 D in group I and 0.26 ± 0.59 D in group II (<i>p</i> = 0.18). At 3 months postoperatively, the mean SEs were 0.30 ± 0.47 D in group I and 0.28 ± 0.50 D in group II (<i>p</i> = 0.67). At 6 months postoperatively, the mean SEs were 0.15 ± 0.47 D in group I and 0.14 ± 0.50 D in group II (<i>p</i> = 0.89). There were no significant differences in postoperative best corrected visual acuity between group I and group II at 1, 3, or 6 months (<i>p</i> = 0.20, <i>p</i> = 0.13, and <i>p</i> = 0.11, respectively).Conclusions: There were no significant differences in postoperative mean SE or safety of LASEK between moderate myopia patients 18-19 years old and those 20-21 years old.