{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,18]],"date-time":"2026-06-18T02:52:30Z","timestamp":1781751150433,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,13]],"date-time":"2026-06-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781308800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Life"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy (Trans-PRK) offers superior re-epithelialization and visual recovery. This study evaluates the impact of preoperative refractive status on clinical outcomes and identifies prognostic factors across varying myopic severities. This retrospective observational study included 125 eyes [64 patients; age &gt; 20 years; best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) \u2265 20\/25] that underwent Trans-PRK between March and December 2022. Patients were stratified into low myopia (LM: &gt; \u22125.0 D), moderate-to-high myopia (MHM: \u22125.0 D to \u22128.0 D), and extremely high myopia (EHM: \u2264 \u22128.0 D) groups. Analysis focused on preoperative refraction, intraoperative parameters, postoperative uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), and corneal conditions of superficial punctate keratitis (SPKs) and haze. The mean age was 30.20 \u00b1 6.34 years, with a mean initial manifest sphere (MS) of \u22126.42 \u00b1 2.27 diopter (D) overall and \u22123.73 \u00b1 0.15 D, \u22126.28 \u00b1 0.13 D, and \u22129.17 \u00b1 0.15 D in the LM, MHM, and EHM groups, respectively. At a mean follow-up of 6.69 \u00b1 3.73 months, the overall mean final manifest spherical equivalent (MSE) was \u22120.12 \u00b1 0.73 D, and the mean final UCVA was 0.01 [Snellen equivalent (SE), 205\/200] \u00b1 0.08 logMAR. Predictability was 94.4%, 88.88%, and 94.3% for the final MS \u2264 \u22121.0 D, final MSE \u2264 \u22121.0 D, and UCVA 0.8, respectively. In the LM and MHM groups, cycloplegic and subjective refractions showed the highest concordance with emmetropia, whereas initial manifest refractions were most accurate for the EHM group. Corneal SPK incidence declined from 32.2% (1 month) to 1.6% (6 months), primarily localized to EHM eyes. Corneal haze peaked at 28.2% at three months before receding to 9.4% by 6 months. Refractive and visual stability were achieved by the third month for the LM and MHM groups, whereas the EHM group (mean MSE: \u22129.59 \u00b1 0.15 D) required six months to reach both refractive and visual plateaus. Despite transiently higher rates of corneal SPKs and haze in EHM eyes, final visual outcomes remained excellent, achieving a mean UCVA of 18\/20.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/life16060997","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,18]],"date-time":"2026-06-18T02:10:16Z","timestamp":1781748616000},"page":"997","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Comparison of Preoperative Refractive Status and Postoperative Outcomes Following Transepithelial Photorefractive Keratectomy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Jiunn-Liang","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, 386, Ta-Chung 1st Road, Kaohsiung 813, Taiwan"},{"name":"Department of Optometry, Shu-Zen Junior College of Medicine and Management, Kaohsiung 821, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1531-5588","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kai-Ling","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, 386, Ta-Chung 1st Road, Kaohsiung 813, Taiwan"},{"name":"Department of Optometry, Shu-Zen Junior College of Medicine and Management, Kaohsiung 821, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1036","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ophtha.2016.01.006","article-title":"Global prevalence of myopia and high myopia and temporal trends from 2000 through 2050","volume":"123","author":"Holden","year":"2016","journal-title":"Ophthalmology"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1163","DOI":"10.2147\/OPTH.S299752","article-title":"The 25th Anniversary of Laser Vision Correction in the United States","volume":"15","author":"Joffe","year":"2021","journal-title":"Clin. 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