This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Epithelial defects minimized with thinner flaps

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

THOROFARE, N.J. — Thinner LASIK flaps were associated with fewer epithelial defects in a study of 1,200 eyes in New York. Making thinner flaps may help surgeons lower the rate of epithelial abnormalities following LASIK, said Michael Belin, MD, FACS.

According to Dr. Belin, a thicker flap may increase the potential for epithelial defects.

Dr. Belin's group studied three different flap thicknesses — 180 µm, produced by a 150 head; 160 µm, produced by a 130 head; and 130 µm, produced by the 100 head.

"We found we had an incidence of epithelial abnormality with the 150 head of 13.2%, which is high," Dr. Belin said. "With the 130 head, it was 8.9% and with the 100 head, it was zero."

Dr. Belin also said the Moria One disposable microkeratome has demonstrated better results than similar reusable keratomes in terms of epithelial abnormalities.

Details of Dr. Belin's study appear in the Nov. 1 issue of Ocular Surgery News.