Simultaneous bilateral laser in situ keratomileusis: Safety and efficacy1
Section snippets
Design
We conducted a chart review of consecutive myopic bilateral simultaneous and sequential LASIK eye surgeries performed from March 1996 through June 1998. To avoid learning curve bias we excluded cases prior to March 1996, when only sequential cases were performed. The decision was made to offer bilateral simultaneous surgery once the surgeons had performed enough sequential LASIK surgeries to feel that bilateral simultaneous LASIK surgery would be a safe and effective alternative for the
Results
Since March 1996, 1853 patients were scheduled for simultaneous bilateral LASIK surgery and 289 patients for sequential bilateral LASIK surgery. Of these consecutive eyes, the mean age of patients presenting for simultaneous bilateral LASIK was 39.6 years of age and 38.2 for patients presenting for sequential surgery. In the simultaneous group, 1019 (55%) were women compared with 175 (61%) in the sequential group. The median preoperative SE for the sequential eyes was −7.19 D (range, −16.0 to
Discussion
At the Gimbel Eye Centre, LASIK was first performed in April 1995 by one surgeon (HVG). Simultaneous bilateral LASIK surgery was first performed in March 1996 (HVG); prior to March 1996, LASIK surgeries were exclusively sequential. Through February 1996, sequential bilateral surgery separated by a median of 4 days (ranging to 41 days) was performed. These eyes were operated during the learning curve by one surgeon (HVG) and included very high myopic eyes, many over 14 D, and during which time
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The authors have no proprietary or financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in the article.