To report late-onset hypertrophic corneal scars after laser epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK) with mitomycin C.

Case 1. A 34-year-old man who had undergone LASEK with mitomycin C 15 months prior was referred to our clinic because of corneal opacity of his right eye. After LASEK, there have been no abnormalities in either of his eyes. However, 11 monthsafter LASEK, he experienced decreased visual acuity in his right eye. The visual acuity was 0.03 in his right eye and 1.0 in his left eye. On slit lamp examination there was a whitish, hypertrophic scarin his right cornea. The lesion was located in the corneal center and the subepithelial space. Central corneal thickness was 828 µm. Case 2. A 23-year-old woman who had undergone LASEK with mitomycin C 14 months before was referred our clinic because of corneal opacity of her left eye. After LASEK, there had been no abnormalities in either of her eyes. However, 12 months after LASEK she experienced decreased visual acuity in her left eye. The visual acuity was 1.0 in her right eye and 0.2 in her left eye. On slit lamp examination there was a whitish, hypertrophic scar in her left cornea. Central corneal thickness was 794 µm.

Manual debridement was performed to remove the hypertrophic scar in both cases. Case 1. After manual debridement, visual acuity of the right eye improved to 0.63. Case 2. After manual debridement, best-corrected visual acuity of the left eye was 0.63.