We’ve heard about bladeless LASIK eye correction surgery as an alternative to traditional LASIK which requires the use of a blade - called a microkeratome - to cut a flap in the cornea to allow the correcting laser (excimer laser) to reshape the eye. But even this bladeless procedure requires the use of a laser, such as Intralase, to create the flap. What if you want to avoid flap-cutting altogether?

This is where Epi-K Advanced Surface Treatment is supposed to come in. The procedure avoids cutting a flap, and instead, completely removes just the thin upper layer of the cornea - known as the epithelium.

The upside of this procedure? Lower risk of flap complications (where most LASIK complications tend to occur), lower risk of post-operative surgical complications, decreased likelihood of post-operative dry eye syndrome, and increased ability in treating thin corneas as approximately 35% less corneal tissue is removed.

However, not everything is bright and joyous with Epi-K. It does come with a downside: Longer healing time since the whole epithelium is removed (as opposed to just a flap, which is restored post-correction). Instead of just one day of recovery time, Epi-K necessitates patients to rest for around 3 days.

But if the safety benefits of Epi-K are not exaggerated, then the increased recovery time is undoubtedly a small price to pay.

[News via PRWeb]