Comparison of changes of higher-order aberrations after LASIK with Femtosecond laser and Mechanical Microkeratome

Objective To compare the changes of higher-order aberrations of patients with high degree of myopia pre- and post- LASIK with femtosecond laser and mechanical microkeratome.Methods In this prospective study,103 patients were included.A trial group had 54 patients with the FS-LASIK,and 49 cases with SBK as the control group.Ocular higher-order aberrations were measured at pre-operation,1 month and 3 months post-operation.The paired t test and the independent t test were used to analyze the changes of aberrations after FS-LASIK and SBK,and compared the difference between the two groups. Results At the 1st and 3rd month post-operation,it had shown an increase in all higher-order aberrations both in two groups,especially for the spherical-like aberrations (C40,C60) and the coma-like aberrations (C3-1,C31).In FS-LASIK group,they were increased (3.4,3.7 times),(16,15 times),(0.4,1 times),(10.8,14.8 times); while in SBK group were (2.5,2,7 times),(25.5,26.5 times),(1.8,1 times),(8.4,14.7times) (P ＜0.05),respectively.The change of higher-order aberrations in FS-LASIK group was loss than the control group.However,as the change of time,the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (P ＞0.05).Conclusions LASIK with the femtosecond laser can effectively correct myopia and astigmatism,it also can induce some higher-order aberrations but superior than the control group.However,as the change of time,the difference between the two groups is not significant. Key words: Myopia; Femtosecond laser; Higher-order aberrations; LASIK