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PURPOSE: To report the French refractive surgeons' real-life practices for preventing infection after corneal refractive surgery (photorefractive keratotomy [PRK], laser in situ keratomileusis [LASIK], and small-incision lenticule extraction). SETTING: French refractive surgeons. DESIGN: Anonymous practice survey. METHODS: The questionnaire was sent in a single email invitation to 400 declared refractive surgeons. The following information was recorded between December 2019 and April 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic: demographics data, preoperative evaluation and preparation of the patient, surgical management, immediate and postoperative protocol, and infections reported after corneal refractive surgery. RESULTS: Eighty-three 83 of 400 surgeons (20.75%) responded to the questionnaire; 55 (66.0%) performed more than 50 corneal refractive surgeries a year, and 25 (30.1%) performed more than 200 procedures a year. Thirty-six (43.4%) surgeons wore 3 protective items, 37 (44.6%) 2, 5 (6.0%) 1, and 5 (6.0%) zero. Seventy-seven (92.8%) surgeons used povidone-iodine for skin area disinfection and 54 (65%) for conjunctival fornix disinfection. The contact time of povidone-iodine was less than 3 minutes for 71 (85.0%) surgeons. Twenty surgeons (24.1%) reported at least 1 post-refractive surgery infection. Twenty percent of surgeons who wore sterile gloves for PRK reported post-operative infections compared with 62.5% for those who did not (p=0.008). These figures were, respectively, 8.7% and 66.7% for the use of sterile gloves during LASIK (p=0.002); 8.9% of surgeons who wore surgical masks for LASIK reported postoperative infections compared with 50.0% for those who did not (p=0.01). CONCLUSION: Practices are variable among French refractive surgeons. Wearing a surgical mask and sterile gloves during corneal refractive surgery appears to be advisable.

Unilateral corneal ectasia developed after small-incision lenticule extraction for mild myopia in a 43-year-old man with preoperative asymmetric astigmatism. The ectasia was diagnosed 4 years postoperatively. Preoperative data showed asymmetric astigmatism with no signs of forme fruste keratoconus. Inferior anterior curvature steepening exceeded 2.00 diopters without bulging of the posterior curvature, and pachymetric thickness exceeded 515 μm. Corneal ectasia can occur after small-incision lenticule extraction in patients older than 40 years with preoperative asymmetric astigmatism.

We report the clinical features and management of a patient with severe bilateral infectious keratitis developing after simultaneous bilateral small-incision lenticule extraction. A 39-year-old man was referred to our emergency department 2 days after a small-incision lenticule extraction procedure for moderate myopia. He reported decreased vision, photophobia, and pain bilaterally. Visual acuity was counting fingers in the right eye and hand motion in the left eye. Slitlamp examination showed multiple white corneal infiltrates at the corneal cap–stromal bed interface. The interface was first rinsed with povidone–iodine 10.0% and then with vancomycin (50 mg/mL). Fortified antibiotics eyedrops administration was initiated. Cultures showed Streptococcus pneumonia. Anterior segment spectral-domain optical coherence tomography scans were performed daily. Once the infection was controlled 4 days later, corticosteroids eyedrops were begun. Three months postoperatively, the patient had a corrected distance visual acuity of 20/32 in the right eye and 20/25 in the left eye. Financial Disclosure None of the authors has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

The KAMRA small-aperture corneal inlay can compensate for presbyopia. A small number of complications have been reported, including glare, halos, decentration, iron deposition, compromised distance and night vision, infectious keratitis and reversal corneal haze. We describe a case of corneal fibrosis after small-aperture corneal inlay implantation and its persistence after late explantation. The postoperative period was uneventful, with good uncorrected near and distance visual acuities. Six years after implantation, the patient reported vision loss in the left eye. A slitlamp evaluation and optical coherence tomography showed stromal opacity and a stromal hyperreflective signal at the level of the small-aperture corneal inlay. The corneal inlay was removed, but persistent decreased visual acuity and fibrosis were observed even 8 months after explantation and did not respond to steroids. Long-term monitoring with multimodal imaging methods is important to detect late adverse events after small-aperture corneal inlay implantation.

Purpose To report long-term results of Artisan phakic intraocular lens (pIOL) to correct myopia and to propose a model predicting endothelial cell loss after pIOL implantation. Setting Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital, Paris, France. Design Retrospective, interventional case series. Methods Uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), and central endothelial cell count (ECC) were determined before and at yearly intervals up to 5 years after pIOL implantation. Linear model analysis was performed to present a model that describes endothelial cell loss as a linear decrease and an additional decrease depending on postoperative loss. Results A total of 49 patients (68 eyes) implanted with pIOLs from January 2000 to January 2009 were evaluated. The mean preoperative and final spherical equivalent (SE) were −13 ± 4.10 and −0.75 ± 0.74 diopters (D), respectively. The mean preoperative and final central ECC were 2629 ± 366 and 2250 ± 454 cells/mm 2 , respectively. There were no intraoperative complications for any of the eyes. One eye required surgery for repositioning the pIOL, and 1 eye required pIOL exchange for postoperative refractive error. The model predicted that for patients with preoperative ECC of 3000, 2500, and 2000 cells/mm 2 , a critical ECC of 1500 cells/mm 2 will be reached at 39, 28, and 15 years after implantation, respectively. Conclusions Implantation of the pIOL was an effective and stable procedure after 5 years of follow-up. The presented model predicted EC loss after pIOL implantation, which can assist ophthalmologists in patient selection and follow-up. Financial disclosure The authors report no conflict of interest.

To determine whether optical coherence tomography (OCT) epithelial mapping can improve the detection of form fruste keratoconus.French National Eye Hospital, Paris 6 PierreMarie Curie University, Paris, France.Retrospective comparative study.Eyes with normal corneas, form fruste keratoconus, moderate keratoconus, or severe keratoconus were assessed using Fourier-domain OCT (RTVue 5.5), scanning-slit corneal topography (Orbscan IIz), and rotating Scheimpflug camera (Pentacam Comprehensive Eye Scanner). Several parameters provided by the software or derived from elevation maps, OCT pachymetric maps, and OCT epithelium parameters were evaluated and compared between the 4 groups.The study involved 145 eyes. There were no significant differences in the keratometry (K) value, inferior-superior value, keratoconus index, central K index, and topographic keratoconus classification indices between the form fruste keratoconus group and the control group (P .05). Form fruste keratoconic corneas had less epithelial thickness in the thinnest corneal zone than normal corneas, and greater epithelial thickness in the thinnest corneal zone than keratoconic corneas (P .005). The epithelial thickness in the thinnest corneal zone in form fruste corneas was located inferiorly (P .005) and corresponded with the zone of minimum epithelial thickness and maximum posterior elevation (P .005). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed good overall predictive accuracy of the epithelial thickness in the thinnest corneal zone, with a 52 μm threshold value for discriminating form fruste keratoconic corneas from normal corneas.The epithelial thickness in the thinnest corneal zone and its location provided by the OCT epithelial mapping might be useful for the early diagnosis of form fruste keratoconus.No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.