Laser Thermal Keratoplasty

Laser Thermal Keratoplasty (LTK) uses the holmium YAG laser to heat the tissue of the cornea, causing it to shrink and steepen the front of the eye to change the focus of incoming light onto the retina, the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye. The goal of LTK is to improve the patient’s ability to see objects at a distance. It is unsure how long LTK results will last. When the US Food and Drug Administration approved LTK in the summer of 2000, it was originally labeled a “temporary” treatment. But some studies indicate could work longer than initially believed and the FDA has removed the word temporary. The laser device was approved to be used to treat patients who have farsightedness (between +0.75 to +2.5 diopters ), who are at least 40 years of age, and whose visual acuity has changed very little over time (that is, the patient’s glasses prescription has changed no more than 0.50 diopter in the previous six months.)

According to the FDA, this treatment may improve distance vision in far-sighted people who have difficulty seeing clearly at a distance. Although some patients may retain some or all of the correction achieved during the surgery, for most people the amount of farsightedness correction achieved will decrease over time. The amount of correction remaining at 24 months is typically about half of the correction observed at 6 months. Some patients will regress completely. How long any significant portion of the correction lasts depends on the amount of correction attempted and age.