RADIAL KERATOTOMY

Radial Keratotomy (often abbreviated RK) is a type of refractive surgery meant to correct myopia or nearsightedness. Developed in the 1970s in Russia, RK was the very first refractive surgical procedure to gain ground in North America. Since then, RK has largely been rendered obsolete by newer refractive surgeries, such as LASIK and photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).
Because RK results are often unpredictable in the way they heal long term, the patient may end up with irregular astigmatism and require specialty contact lenses in order to achieve their visual potential.