Correct understanding of excimer laser technology

Recently, according to Taiwan media reports, excimer myopia correction surgery is very common in Taiwan, but the earliest introduction of this surgery in Taiwan, Taipei Medical University, part-time professor of ophthalmology Cai Ruifang, recently announced suddenly no longer move this surgery. He said, because of long-term observation found that many patients who received laser surgery more than a decade later, vision significantly decreased, the study may be related to the inflammation of the corneal flap after the knife. Excimer laser surgery has been carried out in the clinic for more than 20 years, and a large number of clinical cases over the past 20 years have shown that patients can obtain satisfactory naked eye vision and normal night vision through this surgery to correct myopia. Excimer laser surgery itself is a medical technology and there is bound to be sequelae or complications. The most worrisome complications or sequelae of surgery include unsuccessful intraoperative flap creation and postoperative development of a medically induced conical cornea. With the obvious advancement of corneal lamellar knife equipment and the use of femtosecond laser, failure is very rare; medical cone corneas can be avoided with a standardized preoperative examination in a regular hospital to exclude cone corneas or corneal thinning. The most common sequelae after excimer laser surgery is dry eye, which is characterized by dry eyes and blurred vision, but it will generally be relieved in about six months after surgery, and the symptoms can be significantly relieved by paying attention to eye hygiene and timely use of artificial tears. In addition, the poor night vision mentioned by Dr. Cai should be attributed to the fact that in the early days of this surgery, due to the lack of medical understanding and imperfect equipment, some patients with high myopia used small light area cutting, which may cause glare at night. With the improvement of excimer laser equipment and the current reduction of the upper limit of myopia, such after-effects are obviously reduced. The so-called vision loss, in addition to the patient’s own eye after entering middle age, cataract, glaucoma 2, myopia caused by the fundus and other eye diseases after the performance of vision loss; another part is progressive myopia, the post-operative myopia appears to be increasing, and the performance of refractive regression. The cases mentioned by Dr. Cai exist, however, the cases mentioned by Dr. Cai are from 20 to 30 years ago, when this surgery was still in its early days, and the excessive treatment and too small optical area caused some problems, if any, in very few cases. With the current refinement of the procedure, such cases are very rare. In conclusion, Dr. Cai made the mistake of generalizing from one point to another. The fact is that with the continuous advancement of excimer laser technology, the procedure has now reached a mature stage, and with this procedure, the vast majority of patients can obtain and maintain satisfactory naked eye and night vision for a long time, and the chance of serious sequelae or complications is very rare, and the procedure is now a very safe and reliable technology.