Comparison of Corneal Biological Healing After Femtosecond LASIK and Small Incision Lenticule Extraction Procedure

ABSTRACT

Purpose: To assess and compare the dry-eye-associated parameters and corneal biomechanical status after small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) and femtosecond laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (FS-LASIK).

Methods: Sixty-five patients’ (128 eyes) were collected between November 2012 and April 2013. Thirty-five (69 eyes) underwent SMILE and thirty (59 eyes) underwent FS-LASIK. Visual acuity, manifest refraction, tear break-up time (TBUT), Schirmer’s test (ST), corneal sensitivity, Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), corneal hysteresis (CH) and corneal resistance factor (CRF) were evaluated preoperatively and 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 and 6 months postoperatively.

Results: There was no significant difference in visual outcomes of SMILE and FS-LASIK (p = 0.208). TBUT, ST, CH and CRF decreased significantly after surgery in both groups (all p < 0.05); however, the decrease of TBUT, ST and CRF in the SMILE group was not as significant as that in the FS-LASIK group (all p < 0.05) and the change of CH value was comparable in both groups (p = 0.052).Corneal sensitivity was significantly decreased in the FS-LASIK group postoperatively (p < 0.05), but not significantly changed in the SMILE group (p > 0.05). OSDI scores were significantly increased after surgery for the two groups (all p < 0.05), and the scores were much higher in the FS-LASIK group than in the SMILE group (p = 0.000).

Conclusion: The corneal biological healing of SMILE surgery was superior to FS-LASIK in the early period.

KEYWORDS:

• Biological healing
• corneal biomechanical status
• FS-LASIK
• SMILE
• tear film stability
• OSDI

Funding

The project was supported by the grant from the National Natural Science Foundation (Project: 81370987).

Declaration of interest

No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

The project was supported by the grant from the National Natural Science Foundation (Project: 81370987).

Notes on contributors

Lei Xia

Lei Xia and Jing Zhang contributed equally to this work.