In vivo animal follow-up studies on intrastromal surgery with near-infrared nanojoule femtosecond laser pulses

Abstract

We report on the histological results of in-vivo animal follow-up studies on refractive femtosecond laser surgery. Non-invasive flap-free intrastromal ablation as well as flap generation has been performed with MHz nanojoule near infrared femtosecond laser pulses. In particular, the dynamics of corneal wound healing have been studied. Wound-healing effects could be detected up to 90 days post-operation in the case of lasermediated flap generation. The flap-free intrastromal cavity was identified until the 28th day post-treatment. Interestingly, eosinophil granulocytes were observed. The follow-up studies confirmed that the near infrared femtosecond laser at near-nanojoule pulse energy is a highly precise and an attractive tool for intraocular refractive surgery, especially for flap-free intrastromal surgery.