Dr. Holzman use the safest technology for your individual situation. When the FDA approved the laser flap maker (IntraLase in 1999), the blade or microkeratome (a microkeratome is an instrument that uses a blade to create your corneal flap)I have read that the creation of the flaps were the main source of my vision threatening complications in LASIK. Complications with a microkeratome are: free caps (unattached flaps), partial flaps, or buttonholes (improperly formed flaps) or an epithelial slough (damaged eye tissue). I just found that, even though the vast majority of blade flap cases went well, but when one of the above complications occurred more frequently with the microkeratome and it was a source of frustration to the patient if a complication were to occur.
Naturally after learning about the risks that can occur while using a micorkeratome, I was on board with the idea of using a laser to create the cornal flap. I do not have to worry about buttonholes, partial flaps, and free caps. I just feel more a ease and so much more inner peace to idea of a bladeless procedyre.
When performing bladeless LASIK, Dr. Holzman uses a gentle laser to create the corneal flap. This technology allows the LASIK surgeon to better customize the corneal flap for each patient. As the name implies, no blades are used in this kind of laser eye surgery. Read the staement below from website to help you better understand why bladeless LASIK is a safer more precise way of creating your corneal flap for your LASIK procedure:
The Bladeless LASIK option utilizes a precise, high-energy femtosecond laser instead of a microkeratome blade to create the flap of corneal tissue. Since being invented in the 1990s, the femtosecond laser has been incredibly successful. This laser continues to provide LASIK patients and their eye doctors with a bladeless alternative to traditional laser eye surgery.
Is Blade less LASIK safe?
Both Bladed LASIK and Bladeless LASIK are proven safe and effective, but the bladeless femtosecond procedure has a number of important advantages. Bladeless LASIK, for example, has a lower risk of corneal flap complications.
Some LASIK patients need a second procedure, which laser eye surgeons call a “touch up” or an “enhancement.” Bladeless LASIK allows for a safer enhancement should it be needed. In a recent study, patients whose eye surgeon used a microkeratome blade for their original LASIK eye surgery were shown to have higher risk for a serious complication, called epithelial ingrowth, than those whose eye surgeon had used a bladeless femtosecond laser. Another study found that creating flaps of corneal tissue with a blade less femtosecond laser resulted in faster visual recovery and better uncorrected visual acuity than did creating the corneal flap with a blade.
