OBJECTIVE: To describe the demographic and clinical profile of patients who underwent refractive surgery screening.

METHODS: Medical records of patients who sought consult for refractive surgery from January 2010 to December 2014 at a refractive center were reviewed and analyzed. The preoperative clinical conditions, optical characteristics of myopes and hyperopes, refractive screening tests, and causes for disqualification were determined.

RESULTS: A total of 1215 patients who sought consult for refractive surgery had a mean age of 36.45 ± 11.60 years. Seven hundred ten (58.44%) were females and 860 (70.78%) were Filipinos. Nine hundred eighty eight (81%) were myopes. The mean manifest refractive spherical equivalent (MRSE) for myopic patients was -4.41D±2.98 with mean uncorrected distance vision (UCDVA) of 20/400 (logMAR 1.26) and mean best-corrected distance vision (BCDVA) of 20/20 (logMAR 0.02). For hyperopic patients, the mean MRSE was +1.33D±3.76 with mean UCDVA of 20/40 (logMAR 0.33) and mean BCDVA of 20/20 (logMAR 0.001). Reasons for disqualification from undergoing a refractive procedure included thin cornea (5.27%), irregular corneal topography (2.39%), steep cornea (0.78%), high refractive errors (0.41%), optic nerve (0.41%), and retina (0.25%) pathologies.

CONCLUSION: Patients who underwent screening for refractive surgery were young, mostly female, with myopic refractive errors. LASIK remained the most popular refractive surgery procedure.