Chapter 17: Refractive surgery Flashcards
What is the refractive error limit to corneal refractive surgery and why?
within the ray +4.00 to -10.00 D
because of greater likelihood of corneal scarring and reduced predictability of outcome with larger refractive errors
What are 3 options for the refractive outcome of refractive surgery?
- emmetropia - clear vision at infinity
- aim for -2.50D if pt wishes to dispense with glases for near
- some surgeons aim -1.00D for reasonable near and distance acuity
What are 4 options for dealing with anisometropia after operating on one ametropic eye?
- contact lens in unoperated eye
- enduring anisometropia until fellow eye operated on
- making first eye less ametropic and second even less so
- monovision
What proportion of patients are unable to adapt to monovision?
as many as 50%
What are 3 things used in vitreoretinal surgery that can have unavoidable effects on post-operative refractive errors?
- scleral buckles
- silicone oil
- intraocular gas
What 2 things must be stable before considering a procedure to change the refractive state of the cornea?
- refractive error
- corneal topography
What is considered the lower acceptable age limit for corneal refractive surgery due to changes happening in terms of refractive error/corneal topography?
21 years
For what time period after the following contact lens types have been worn can it take for corneal warpage to stabilise?
1. PMMA hard lenses
2. gas permeable lenses
3. soft contact lenses
- 15 weeks
- 10 weeks
- 5 weeks
What are 4 common types of refractive correction surgery?
- Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK)
- Laser intrastromal keratomileusis (LASIK)
- Laser-assisted sub-epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK)
- Radial keratotomy
What are 4 common types of refractive correction surgery?
- Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK)
- Laser intrastromal keratomileusis (LASIK)
- Laser-assisted sub-epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK)
- Radial keratotomy
What are 3 methods for the surgical correction of astigmatism?
- Relaxing incisions - transverse and arcuate keratotomy
- Compressive techniques - wedge resection
- Compression sutures
What are 9 additional less commonly used/up and coming surgical methods for refractive correction?
- Intrastromal corneal ring
- Epikeratophakia
- Keratomileusis
- Keratophakia
- Thermokeratoplasty
- Clear lens extraction
- Phakic IOL
- Corneal incisions
- Penetrating keratoplasty (PK)
What type of laser is used in LASIK/LASEK/PRK?
Excimer laser (excited dimer)
What does PRK involve?
surgeon removes the corneal epithelium and uses an excimer laser to apply computer-controlled pulses of light energy to reshape the anterior curvature of the cornea
How does PRK work to correct myopia?
successive concentric applications of increasing diameter are made so more tissue is ablated centrally than peripherally and the surface curvature is reduced
What is a risk of using a smaller diameter of area treated in PRK (3.5-4mm)?
edge may cause haloes to be seen around lights when pupil is dilated
How can haloes around lights from PRK be reduced and what is the disadvantage of this?
wider area of treatment 6-7mm; requires deeper ablation
What is a strategy for PRK to use a wider area of ablation but minimise the depth?
multiple concentrentric treatment zones with transition in between smoothed; only centremost zone provides full dioptric correction
What is PRK more commonly used for, myopia or hypermetropia?
myopia
How can PRK be used to treat regular astigmatism?
reducing surface curvature more in the steepest meridian than in any other, using:
1. slit beam
2. elliptical ablation zone
3. scanning beam
4. ablatable mask
What is an ablatable mask?
plate of PMMA placed in path of laser beam to shield cornea; thinner areas of the mask are ablated first and allow deeper ablation fo the corresponding are of the cornea
What is the sobriquet to remember how LASIK works?
flap and zap
What does the LASIK procedure involve?
- mechanical microkeratome used to dissect through the superficial corneal stroma and fashion a lamellar circular flap of uniform thickness
- dissection not completed - flap remains attached at one point, acts as hinge
- bared **corneal stroma **is reshaped using excimer laser
- flap is replaced
What is the benefit of the LASIK flap further down the line?
if under-correction or regression occurs, flap can be lifted to apply further treatment