Comparative Localized Corneal Biomechanical Changes Following Laser Vision Correction Using Brillouin Microscopy

Published 2022 - 40th Congress of the ESCRS

Reference: FPM11.05 | Type: Free paper | DOI: 10.82333/qmg8-wj97

Authors: J Bradley Randleman* ¹ , Hongyuan Zhang ¹ , Lara Asroui ¹ , Giuliano Scarcelli ²

¹Ophthalmology,Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute,Cleveland,United States, ²Engineering,University of Maryland,Maryland,United States

Purpose

To identify focal corneal biomechanical alterations in vivo after PRK, LASIK, and SMILE using Brillouin microscopy.

Setting

Cleveland Clnic Cole Eye Institute

Methods

Ongoing prospective, cross-sectional study comparing Brillouin scan data from

patients with normal corneas as determined by routine clinical evaluation before and

after undergoing PRK, LASIK, or SMILE. The primary endpoint was regional change in Brillouin longitudinal modulus after surgery.

Results

All eyes having PRK, LASIK, and SMILE showed relatively uniform Brillouin modulus preoperatively across the central 6mm of their corneas. All normal corneas had slightly lower Brillouin modulus centrally of 20-50MHz as compared to peripheral values. Following laser vision correction by all three methods, central longitudinal modulus decreased by 30-50 MHz, while there were no significant changes in peripheral modulus. The greatest focal changes occurred after LASIK followed by PRK, with SMILE inducing the least change in modulus compared to preoperative values.

Conclusions

Brillouin microscopy was able to successfully identify a focal reduction in corneal stiffness for all three laser vision correction procedures and thereby provide novel highly specific localized corneal biomechanical data in vivo.