Two-Year Outcome of a Patient Treated With Phototherapeutic Keratectomy and Autologous SMILE Lenticule Transplantation for Flap-Related Complications Following LASIK.

PURPOSE

To describe a patient with flap complications after LASIK who was subsequently treated using phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) and an autologous lenticule transplant obtained via small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE).

METHODS

A 23-year-old man experienced free flap and partial flap loss in the left eye following LASIK, resulting in corneal stroma opacity 1 month later. The manifest refraction was -3.25 diopters sphere (DS)/-0.50 diopters cylinder (DC) × 100° in the right eye and +2.50 DS/-1.25 DC × 155° in the left eye. His left eye was treated with PTK and transplantation of an autologous lenticule obtained from his right eye using the SMILE procedure.

RESULTS

At the 2-year follow-up visit, the uncorrected distance visual acuity of the left eye had improved from 20/100 to 20/22 and the corrected distance visual acuity had improved from 20/25 to 20/18. Central corneal thickness had increased from 464 to 499 µm. The mean keratometry value had decreased from 45.00 diopters (D) at the 1-month follow-up visit to 39.40 D at the 2-year follow-up visit. Optical coherence tomography examination revealed that the lenticule remained transparent and exhibited a visible demarcation line.

CONCLUSIONS

The transplantation of an autologous lenticule obtained via SMILE combined with PTK improved uncorrected and corrected acuity in this patient with flap loss after LASIK. [J Refract Surg. 2018;34(4):281-285.].