Sir,

We appreciate the insightful comments of Drs Qiu and Zhang on our published article.1 We had shown earlier that eyes with higher intraocular pressure (IOP) are more predisposed to having lower corneal hysteresis (CH), indicating that IOP levels may affect the measurement of CH.2 After phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK), we topically administered the steroid, fluorometholone (0.1%), four times daily for 1 week, the dose being gradually reduced thereafter. However, the corneal compensated IOP measured with an Ocular Response Analyzer (Reichert Ophthalmic Instruments, Depew, New York, USA) was 15.8±3.8 mm Hg preoperatively and 16.3±3.9 mm Hg 3 months postoperatively. No significant IOP rise as a result of the response to the steroid occurred in any eye during the follow-up period. Accordingly, we consider that IOP did not significantly affect the measurement of CH in eyes undergoing PTK in this study.