Outcomes of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty versus intralase enabled penetrating keratoplasty in keratoconus

Abstract Objective To compare the visual and refractive outcomes after deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) and intralase enabled keratoplasty (IEK) for keratoconus. Design A retrospective comparative case series. Participants Eighteen eyes that underwent DALK and 18 that had IEK for keratoconus. Methods Main outcome measures included preoperative and postoperative best spectacle corrected visual acuity (BSCVA), refraction, high-order aberrations (HOA), and complication rate were compared between the 2 groups after all suture removals. Results Mean time to all suture removal was 11.91 months for the DALK and 6.7 months for the IEK. The mean logMAR BSCVA of patients in the DALK group was 0.28 (20/38) and 0.37 (20/46) in the IEK group ( p p p p p p Conclusions BSCVA and complication rates are similar after DALK and IEK, but each technique has its advantage. IEK offered shorter time to suture removal whereas DALK offered lower postoperative astigmatism and HOA rates.