Refractive Surgery News

The VisuMax femtosecond laser and the Moria M2 automated microkeratome yielded similar safety and efficacy outcomes in LASIK treatment of myopia, according to a study.

Wavefront-guided LASIK showed better and more predictable outcomes, better aberrometric control and preservation of visual quality than SMILE in patients with low to moderate myopia and myopic astigmatism in a multicenter, prospective study.

A large cohort study investigating factors associated with the development of haze after PRK found significant correlations with hyperopia, high myopia and high astigmatism. Longer mitomycin C application and laser removal of the epithelium rather than alcohol debridement, however, may have a beneficial effect on haze prevention.

A prospective study comparing the results of femtosecond-assisted topography-guided LASIK and SMILE in eyes with myopia or myopic astigmatism showed superior results of LASIK. According to the authors, this is likely due to the more sophisticated technology currently available for LASIK.

Amar Agarwal, MS, FRCS, FRCOphth, demonstrates a new technique -- single-pass four-throw pupilloplasty -- with glued IOL, then answers questions at the Indian Intraocular Implant and Refractive Society convention at Dr. Agarwal's Eye Hospital in Chennai.

Patients reported satisfaction with distance and intermediate vision after implantation of a new shape-segmented enhanced depth of focus IOL.

Refractive cataract surgery continues to gain in popularity among both cataract surgeons and their patients because advanced technology and surgical techniques seem to deliver improved visual outcomes. Among cataract surgery patients, corneal astigmatism of greater than 1 D was noted in 40% of eyes in a U.K. study and 50% of eyes in an Italian study, greater than 1.25 D in 27.5% of eyes in a Chinese study, and greater than 2 D in 8% of eyes in a German study.

The FDA has approved a new indication for the Star S4 IR excimer laser system and iDesign system for LASIK patients with hyperopia, with or without astigmatism, according to a press release from Johnson & Johnson Vision.

I became interested in laser corneal refractive surgery in 1985. I sent my then-fellow Ralph Zabel, MD, to England to work with Prof. John Marshall for a year. Ralph, while initially skeptical, became a believer after about 6 months and co-authored the first publication on excimer laser PRK in the rabbit, describing the healing response that included subepithelial fibrosis with corneal haze and compensatory epithelial hyperplasia. He returned to Minnesota for a second year of fellowship, and we decided to get an excimer laser at the Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis, starting with Taunton Technologies, which later merged with Visx. It took 8 years of clinical trials to achieve FDA approval for the Summit excimer laser in 1995 and Visx excimer laser in 1996.

The reason for undergoing refractive surgery as a member of the U.S. military is not necessarily a medical one.