Femtosecond laser outperforms microkeratome 3 months after hyperopic LASIK

Am J Ophthalmol. 2011;152(1):16-21.

Femtosecond LASIK achieved a better refractive correction of hyperopia than mechanical microkeratome LASIK without significant differences in safety, a study found.

“Both mechanical and femtosecond LASIK are safe and effective procedures to correct low to moderate levels of hyperopia, but we detected statistically significantly better refractive results 3 months after surgery when the IntraLase was used to create the flap,” the study authors said.

The retrospective study analyzed a total of 144 eyes, two groups of 72 eyes each. No statistically significant differences existed preoperatively between the groups. Mean preoperative sphere was +3.45 D in the IntraLase femtosecond laser (Abbott Medical Optics) group and +3.18 D in the Moria M2 microkeratome group. The femtosecond laser and the microkeratome had a safety index of 0.97 and 0.98, respectively. The difference was not statistically significant.

Three months postoperatively, mean residual sphere was +0.44 D and +0.72 D, respectively, and best corrected visual acuity was 0.96 and 0.92, respectively. Uncorrected visual acuity after 3 months for the femtosecond laser group was significantly better than the microkeratome group, 0.89 vs. 0.80. Residual refractive error, although slightly hyperopic in both groups, was statistically significantly lower in the femtosecond group. Despite these differences, the efficacy index between the two procedures did not reach statistical significance.