Higher order aberrations after LASIK for myopia with alcon and wavelight lasers: a prospective randomized trial.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the differences in higher order aberration outcomes between bilateral wavefront-guided and wavefront-optimized LASIK treatments on two closely matched patient groups 1 and 3 months following surgery.

METHODS: Thirty patients were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned to undergo bilateral LASIK with either the Alcon CustomCornea laser system or the WaveLight Allegretto Wave laser system. Standard clinical outcomes such as visual acuity and manifest refraction were evaluated as well as quality of vision measures such as subjective questionnaires and higher order aberrations. All patients completed follow-up examinations for 3 months following surgery.

RESULTS: At 1 and 3 months after surgery, the uncorrected visual acuity and the refractive outcome were similar for the two laser platforms, with 90% to 93% eyes being within +/- 0.5 D of intended outcome. At 1 and 3 months the Alcon CustomCornea group had a statistically significant lower amount of induced total higher order aberrations compared to the Allegretto Wave group (P < .05).

CONCLUSIONS: LASIK for myopia with the Alcon CustomCornea and WaveLight Allegretto Wave systems is highly effective in terms of refractive outcome and uncorrected visual acuity. However, aberrations were statistically significantly greater after treatment with the WaveLight Allegretto Wave system than with the Alcon CustomCornea.