Laser refractive surgery proved effective for all degrees of myopia and offered long-term refractive stability, a study found.

"Refractive stability was achieved within 1 year postoperatively, with LASIK showing better stability than PRK for up to 6 to 9 years," the study authors said.

The comparative case series included 389 eyes of 229 patients; specifically, 247 eyes had low to moderate myopia and 142 eyes had high myopia. In the low to moderate myopia group, 85 patients underwent PRK and 162 patients underwent LASIK. In the high myopia group, 40 patients underwent PRK and 102 patients underwent LASIK.

The mean postoperative follow-up interval was 4.91 years (range: 2 to 13 years).

Study results showed that the low to moderate myopia group attained better uncorrected distance visual acuity than the high myopia group. In addition, the LASIK group had better postoperative uncorrected distance visual acuity than the PRK group.

In the PRK group, 45.9% of eyes with low to moderate myopia and 25% of eyes with high myopia were within 0.5 D of targeted refraction by the end of the study. In the LASIK group, 64.8% of eyes with low to moderate myopia and 37.3% of eyes with high myopia were within 0.5 D of the refractive goal by the end of the study.