Which is better blade or blade-less lasik eye surgery?
Dr. Holzman has performed thousands of surgeries both with the bladed microkeratome and with the femtosecond laser (blade-less). His feeling is that either way works but in general but the femtosecond laser is a safer, more precise flap creator and it tends to healing with less complications such as flap wrinkling. If Dr. Holzman personally was having LASIK surgery on his eyes, He would choose to go with the laser created flap. There is a numerous amount of research that has demonstrated that blade-less procedures including Femtosecond LASIK and PRK are much safer than having the LASIK procedure with a bladed microkeratome.
Dr. Holzman will only use the safest technology for the situation. When the FDA approved the laser flap maker (IntraLase in 1999), the blade or microkeratome flaps were the main source of vision threatening complications in LASIK; whether they were free caps (unattached flaps), partial flaps, or buttonholes (improperly formed flaps) or an epithelial slough (damaged eye tissue). Dr. Holzman found that, even though the vast majority of bladed flap cases went well, when they didn’t go well… it was ugly. Why not minimize the risks of complications if you have that option!
Dr. Holzman will only use technology that is the safest and most effective in helping you reach your best visual outcome. If he would not use it on himself, his friends or his family members, he will not use it on you! So for Dr. Holzman, a bladed procedure is not an option in his practice! Safety never takes a holiday right! Dr. Holzman is a firm believer in all laser LASIK.
