Scraping of epithelium for treatment of undercorrection and haze after photorefractive keratectomy.

We report an easy, safe technique to treat regression and haze after excimer laser photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), in which the hyperplastic epithelium is removed manually. The results of scraping of epithelium in 21 eyes of 20 patients are presented. Mean follow-up time was 3 months (range 1 to 7). The mean spherical equivalent refraction before photorefractive keratectomy was -9.93 +/- 2.95 diopters (D); the mean spherical equivalent refraction before epithelial scraping was -3.82 +/- 2.87 D; after scraping it declined to -2.63 +/- 4.04 D. The uncorrected visual acuity after scraping was 20/50 or better in 6 eyes. In 5 others it was between 20/60 and 20/100, and in 10 eyes it was worse than 20/100. The corrected visual acuity after scraping was 20/30 or better in 8 eyes, between 20/40 and 20/60 in 8 eyes, and between 20/60 and 20/100 in 5 eyes.