Abstract
BackgroundThe biomechanical properties of the cornea should be taken into account in the refractive procedure in order to perform refractive surgery more accurately. The effects of the ablation depth and repair time on the elastic modulus of the rabbit cornea after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) are still unclear.MethodsIn this study, LASIK was performed on New Zealand rabbits with different ablation depth (only typical LASIK flaps were created; residual stroma bed was 50 or 30% of the whole cornea thickness respectively). The animals without any treatment were served as normal controls. The corneal thickness was measured by ultrasonic pachymetry before animals were humanly killed after 7 or 28 days post-operatively. The corneal elastic modulus was measured by uniaxial tensile testing. A mathematical procedure considering the actual geometrics of the cornea was created to analyze the corneal elastic modulus.ResultsThere were no obvious differences among all groups in the elastic modulus on after 7 days post-operatively. However, after 28th days post-operatively, there was a significant increase in the elastic modulus with 50 and 30% residual stroma bed; only the elastic modulus of the cornea with 30% residual stroma bed was significantly higher than that of 7 days.ConclusionsChanges in elastic modulus after LASIK suggest that this biomechanical effect may correlate with the ablation depth and repair time.
Highlights
The biomechanical properties of the cornea should be taken into account in the refractive procedure in order to perform refractive surgery more accurately
The mechanism of post-Laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) keratectasia is still unclear, it is widely accepted that corneal biomechanical integrity is compromised after microkeratome incisions [4]
The elastic modulus of corneal strips in group 3 increased by 16% compared to group 2 (P < 0.05), this indicated that the corneal elastic modulus increased with the ablation depth after 28 days post-operatively (Fig. 5)
Summary
The biomechanical properties of the cornea should be taken into account in the refractive procedure in order to perform refractive surgery more accurately. Laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) is a widely performed refractive procedure designed to improve visual acuity by reshaping the surface of the cornea. It involves the use of a microkeratome to create a thin corneal flap followed by excimer laser ablation of the corneal stroma and repositioning of the flap. To perform refractive surgery more accurately, it has been proposed that the biomechanical properties of the cornea should be taken into account [2]. The mechanism of post-LASIK keratectasia is still unclear, it is widely accepted that corneal biomechanical integrity is compromised after microkeratome incisions [4]
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