| Study | Reason for exclusion |
|---|---|
| Benito‐Llopis 2008 | Not an RCT. "The decision to perform LASEK instead of LASIK was based either on the calculated residual stromal thickness being too thin to perform LASIK or on patient preference after being fully informed about the advantages and disadvantages of the procedure." It was a prospective study comparing participants who opted for LASEK (either poor LASIK candidates or participant preference as stated above) with participants who had LASIK that were matched in terms of preoperative refractive error (≤ 0.50 SE and ≤ 0.75 D cyl) |
| Buzzonetti 2004 | Not an RCT. Authors confirmed. |
| Cabrera Martínez 2009 | Not an RCT |
| Chung 2006 | Not an RCT. Participants were assigned based on their choice |
| Eidt 2003 | Not an RCT |
| Ferguson 2006 | Not an RCT |
| Gao 2005 | Not an RCT |
| Huang 2007 | Not an RCT. Retrospective study and included eyes with > 12 D myopia |
| Kim 2004 | Wrong study participants. Included participants with 12.5 D myopia |
| Kirwan 2009 | Not an RCT |
| Kotb 2004 | Wrong study participants. Included eyes with 17 D myopia |
| Lee 2003 | Not an RCT |
| Li 2005 | Not an RCT |
| McAlinden 2010 | Not an RCT |
| Reilly 2006 | Not an RCT |
| Ruckhofer 2003 | Not an RCT |
| Scerrati 2001 | Not an RCT |
| Sheng 2004 | Not an RCT. Retrospective study that included participants with 13 D myopia |
| Swinger 1981 | Not an RCT. Retrospective study that included participants with lamellar refractive keratoplasty |
| Wu 2005 | Not an RCT |
| Zou 2008 | Wrong study participants. Included participants with > 12D myopia |
D: diopters; RCT: randomized controlled trial.