This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Epi-LASIK, off-flap epi-LASIK yield similar visual and refractive outcomes, healing times
Ophthalmology. 2008;115(12):2174-2180.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Both standard epi-LASIK and off-flap epi-LASIK for low to moderate myopia showed early epithelial healing and long-term improvements in best corrected visual acuity.
"Epi-LASIK and off-flap epi-LASIK had equal refractive and visual results, and they did not differ regarding their early postoperative course," the study authors said.
The study included 112 eyes of 56 patients who had a mean age of 26.6 years. One eye of each patient underwent standard epi-LASIK, in which the epithelial sheet was repositioned, and the other eye underwent off-flap epi-LASIK, in which the epithelial sheet was removed.
Mean epithelial healing time was 4.76 days in the epi-LASIK eyes and 4.54 days in the off-flap epi-LASIK eyes. At 1 year, 90% of epi-LASIK and off-flap epi-LASIK eyes were within ±0.5 D of targeted refraction; 100% of epi-LASIK eyes and 95% of off-flap epi-LASIK eyes were within ±1 D of intended refraction.
At 1 month, 21% of epi-LASIK eyes and 20% of off-flap epi-LASIK eyes had gained one or two lines BCVA; 25% of epi-LASIK eyes and 20% of off-flap epi-LASIK eyes had lost one or two lines. However, BCVA improved in both groups over time.
Investigators saw no significant differences between the groups' higher-order aberrations at all follow-up intervals.