Small-incision lenticule extraction

Majid Moshirfar; Michael V McCaughey; Dan Z Reinstein; Rupal Shah; Luis Santiago-Caban; Carlton R Fenzl

doi:10.1016/j.jcrs.2015.02.006

Small-incision lenticule extraction

J Cataract Refract Surg. 2015 Mar;41(3):652-65. doi: 10.1016/j.jcrs.2015.02.006.

Authors

Majid Moshirfar¹, Michael V McCaughey², Dan Z Reinstein², Rupal Shah², Luis Santiago-Caban², Carlton R Fenzl²

Affiliations

¹ From the Francis I. Proctor Foundation (Moshirfar), University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, the University of New Mexico School of Medicine (McCaughey), Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the John A. Moran Eye Center (Fenzl), University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; the London Vision Clinic (Reinstein), London, United Kingdom; the New Vision Laser Centers (Shah), Vadodara, India; the Ophthalmology Department (Santiago-Caban), University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine Ophthalmology Department, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Electronic address: majid.moshirfar@ucsf.edu.
² From the Francis I. Proctor Foundation (Moshirfar), University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, the University of New Mexico School of Medicine (McCaughey), Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the John A. Moran Eye Center (Fenzl), University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; the London Vision Clinic (Reinstein), London, United Kingdom; the New Vision Laser Centers (Shah), Vadodara, India; the Ophthalmology Department (Santiago-Caban), University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine Ophthalmology Department, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

PMID: 25804585
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrs.2015.02.006

Abstract

This review looks at the benefits, limitations, complications, and future applications of the small-incision lenticule extraction procedure. Using the search terms small incision lenticule extraction and femtosecond lenticule extraction, we obtained data from 56 articles (omitting German and Chinese articles) from the PubMed database. Small-incision lenticule extraction has shown efficacy, predictability, and safety that are proportionate to those of laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK), with the additional benefit that it eliminates flap creation and the attendant risks. The potential advantages of the procedure related to improved biomechanical stability, postoperative inflammation, and dry-eye symptoms have not been fully established. Small-incision lenticule extraction-treated eyes have shown a reduced degree of postoperative corneal denervation and higher-order aberrations and an accelerated rate of corneal nerve convalescence relative to LASIK. Future possibilities related to long-term cryogenic storage of extracted lenticules with eventual reimplantation or donation have been investigated with encouraging preliminary results.

Financial disclosure: Drs. Reinstein and Shah are consultants to Carl Zeiss Meditec AG. No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Review

MeSH terms

Corneal Stroma / surgery*
Corneal Surgery, Laser / methods*
Humans
Keratomileusis, Laser In Situ / methods
Lasers, Solid-State / therapeutic use*
Microsurgery / methods