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Femtosecond Lasik is an advanced and safe surgical procedure to treat refractive errors. Typically, this surgery is highly recommended to patients with a high-degree of myopia or those who have a thin cornea.
Ms. N.V.L (23 years old, Tan Binh ward, HCMC) suffered from a high-degree of congenital myopia. The myopic degree was 12 dioptres in her left eye and 13.5 dioptres in her right eye, and, in addition, both eyes suffered from astigmatism (a common imperfection to the eye’s curvature). When, Ms. L. was younger, she was really unhappy that the glasses she wore were not suited to the degree of her myopic. The medically prescribed glasses at 7 to 8 dioptres could help to relieve the headaches and dizziness caused by her high-degree of myopia but her vision with her glasses was just 1/10. Suffering from a high-degree of myopic and having thin corneas meant that Ms. L. was not a suitable candidate for Lasik surgery. Consequently, she had to accept the fact she would have to continue to use glasses with very thick lenses.
After a visit to Dr. Nguyen Thi Mai, Head of FV Hospital’s Ophthalmology and Refractive Surgery, Ms. L. found hope in finding a way to improve her vision. After giving a medical examination, Dr. Mai recommended that L. should undergo Femtosecond LASIK surgery. The duration of this surgery is about 15 minutes in total, in which each eye receives ten seconds of laser treatment. Following the operation, Ms. L. is able to free herself from using glasses with thick lenses. Her vision when wearing glasses before surgery was at 1/10. Immediately after the surgery, her myopia degree at each eye was reduced to 5 diopters. With support of much thinner medical glasses matched with her myopia degree, her vision is now 10/10.
Femtosecond LASIK is considered a huge step forward in LASIK surgery. This modern technique is highly recommended to correct myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia, and astigmatism without utilizing mechanical microkeratome.
The key difference between these two kinds of LASIK surgeries is the way it creates a flap. Femtosecond LASIK surgery uses laser Femtosecond while traditional LASIK surgery uses mechanical microkeratome for the creation of the flap. Femtosecond LASIK is also called bladeless LASIK since there is no use of microkeratome. During this procedure, a constant beam of laser is used to create a corneal flap. Laser Femtosecond directs laser energy precisely on the focal point on the corneal surface without affecting the surrounding tissue. The modern technology of laser Femtosecond allows precise creation of three-dimensional flap and helps patients to restore their vision almost immediately after the procedure.
“Since Femtosecond LASIK surgery can create a thin flap, this procedure is highly recommended for cases of high-degree myopia and thin corneas. This procedure also allows adjustable flap cutting, enabling better placing of the flap, higher safety and improved vision after surgery” – Dr. Mai.
Due to its proven success, a Femtoscecond LASIK surgery procedure for refractive correction is commonly administered at FV Hospital.
