Purpose: This retrospective study was designed to investigate the therapeutic potential of phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) for the treatment of map-dot-fingerprint corneal dystrophy (MDFCD).
Patients and methods: PTK was performed with the Excimed UV 200 and with the Nidek EC5000 on 38 patients (55 eyes). Mean patient age was 51 years (range, 28-86 years). The mean follow-up period was 19 months (range, 8-54 months). The treatment goal for each patient was to improve vision (17 eyes), to heal recurrent corneal erosions (28 eyes) or both (10 eyes).
Results: In 13 of 17 eyes (76.47%) with reduction in visual acuity, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) improved by two lines or more. In 36 eyes of 38 (94.7%) with recurrent corneal erosions, there was no recurrence during the follow-up period. No decreased BCVA was noted. No recurrence of corneal dystrophic changes was seen in the ablation zone at the final follow-up. The mean hyperopic shift caused by tissue ablation was +O.55+/-1.35 after 1 year.
Conclusion: Excimer laser PTK is a safe and effective outpatient treatment and should be used as initial treatment for MDFCD.