Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to assess the preoperative epithelial status and its impact on post-refractive surgery (RS) outcomes using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Materials and Methods: 500 patients undergoing RS underwent pre and post-operative testing, including epithelial imaging on MS39(CSO,Italy). Post-surgery, visual quality was assessed using the VFQ-25 questionnaire, and HOAs from the epithelium were compared. AI was used to determine predictive factors for surgical outcomes.
Results: Both the groups had a similar improvement in the UCVA. 324 out of 337 in Group 1 had good QOV (VFQ score <80) and 97 out of 163 in Group 2 had a poor QOV(VFQ>120). Epithelial and Corneal HOAs were normal in Group 1 but raised in Group 2(p < 0.001). AI suggested pre-op epithelium irregularity strongly predicts surgical outcomes.
Conclusion: Epithelial imaging proves to be a valuable tool for predicting post-refractive surgery outcomes and can be seamlessly incorporated into daily clinical practice.

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