Pharmacological Therapy for Presbyopia in Patients with Previous Corneal Refractive Surgery: A Pilot Study

Purpose: To perform a pilot evaluation of a novel pharmacological therapy for presbyopia in patients with previous corneal refractive surgery.

Methods: This interventional study included 130 presbyopic patients. The patients were divided into three groups: (1) LASIK group, which included patients with previous LASIK for myopia or hyperopia; (2) previous presbyopia surgery group, including patients with previous monovision or PresbyLASIK (PresbyMAX, SCHWIND eye-tech-solutions GmbH, Kleinostheim, Germany); and (3) control group, which included presbyopes without any corneal refractive procedure. The main reason for dividing them into groups is that we hypothesized that the previous presbyopia surgery group may have better outcomes as the patients already have an increased depth of field. The uncorrected near and distance visual acuity was measured before and 2 hours after the binocular instillation of the eye drop (FOV tears), as well as the objective scatter index (OSI), and pupil diameter in photopic and scotopic conditions. Side effects were reported as well.

Results: There was a statistically significant improvement in the uncorrected near vision in all groups (p = 0.001). Ninety-one percent of the patients included in this study gained at least one line in near vision. All patients in the previous presbyopia surgery group gained at least one line in near vision. Six patients (13.9%) in the LASIK group and five (7.6%) in the control group did not gain any lines of near vision. There was no significant difference in the OSI, there was a significant change in pupil size in scotopic conditions in all groups (p = 0.001), and 5.3% of the patients reported having a headache as a side effect of the therapy.

Conclusions: Topical treatment with this pharmacological therapy offers a potential for near vision improvement in patients with previous corneal refractive surgery, especially in those with previous presbyopia surgery.

Keywords: Corneal refractive surgery; Depth of field; Multifocal cornea; Pharmacological therapy of presbyopia; Presbyopia; Uncorrected near vision.