Objection
To compare the effects of three mainstream surgical methods on the ocular surface and investigate the optimal corneal myopia correction surgery.
Methods
We selected 118 patients (236 eyes) undergoing small incision lamellar extraction (SMILE) (40 patients, 80 eyes), femtosecond-laser in situ keratomileusis (FS-LASIK) (36 patients, 72 eyes) or sub-Bowman keratomileusis (SBK) (42 patients, 84 eyes) surgery for corneal myopia correction from March 2015 to January 2016. Before surgery, one week and one month after surgery, tear film rupture time, tear river height and eye red index were measured using ocular surface analyzer. The Schimer Ⅰ test was used to detect tear secretion. Corneal sensory gauge was used to measure corneal sensation. Analysis of variance was used to analyze the measurements of the three surgical methods at various time points.
Results
The tear film rupture time of the three groups decreased after one week (P<0.05), but the time in the SMILE group [(9.643±4.751) seconds] was longer than those in the other two groups [FS-LASIK (8.172±4.300) seconds, SBK (7.612±3.691) seconds,P<0.05]. The time in the SMILE group at one month after surgery was not different from that before surgery (P>0.05). At one month after surgery, the rupture times of the other two groups were still shortened (P<0.05). The tear river heights in the three groups were decreased at one week and one month after surgery (P<0.05), except FS-LASIK group (P>0.05). In the SBK group, at one week after surgery, the decrease of the height was the most obvious (P<0.05). There was no difference in eye red index among the three groups at the time of observation (P>0.05). Corneal sensation decreased in the three groups at one week and one month after surgery. In the SBK group, that was the most obvious decline (P<0.05). In the three groups, the tear secretion did not change at each observation time point (P>0.05).
Conclusion
In the three surgical methods, SMILE has the minimal impact on the ocular surface, followed by FS-LASIK, and SBK has the greatest impact.
