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Femtosecond laser effects tighter seal in clear corneal incisions
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BOSTON — Clear corneal incisions cut with a femtosecond laser achieve a tighter-closing wound, in turn obviating the risk of postsurgical infection after cataract surgery, according to a speaker.
 Roger F. Steinert |
Clear corneal incisions have been noted to be beneficial in surgical outcomes after cataract surgery, but they require use of a costly disposable blade, are prone to inaccurate reproducibility even in the best surgeons' hands and, if done improperly, "can lead to cascading intraoperative difficulties," Roger F. Steinert, MD, said at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. Also, the incisions are often not self-sealing and have been implicated in endophthalmitis, he said.
Use of an image-guided femtosecond laser, however, led to highly reproducible clear corneal incisions with precise geometry and dimensions in a study of 75 eyes undergoing cataract surgery, according to Dr. Steinert. No eyes in the study required sutures, and there was no iris prolapse. While 17 of 18 (94%) Langerman incisions and 13 of 15 (87%) dimple-down incisions required stromal hydration to attain closure, none of the 42 eyes that underwent two-plane laser incision required stromal hydration.
"I think this will put to rest, once and for all, the risk of these incisions for endophthalmitis," Dr. Steinert said.
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