Abstract

To prospectively compare dry-eye symptoms after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) with mechanical keratome-created flaps and femtosecond laser keratome-created flaps.Department of Ophthalmology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.Randomized clinical trial.Fellow eyes were prospectively randomized to the mechanical keratome group and femtosecond laser keratome group. Patients had wavefront-guided LASIK using a mechanical keratome in 1 eye and a femtosecond laser keratome in the fellow eye. They completed dry-eye questionnaires preoperatively and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. The effect of laser ablation depth, sex, age, and flap thickness on dry-eye symptoms was also analyzed.The study enrolled 51 patients. There was no statistically significant change in dry-eye symptoms except in the femtosecond group 1 month postoperatively (mean increase 1.08) (P=.03). There were no significant differences in symptoms between the 2 groups (P=.7). The dry-eye score was 1.3 points lower in women than in men (P=.01). Central ablation depth, flap thickness, and age did not significantly affect the reported dryness.There appeared to be no statistically significant difference in self-reported dry-eye symptoms between the mechanical keratome group and the femtosecond laser keratome group.

View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jcrs.2011.03.035

View details for PubMedID 21684109