Effect of age on visual and refractive results after LASIK: mechanical microkeratome versus femtosecond laser

AIM: To evaluate the effect of age on visual and refractive results after laser in situ keratomileusis(LASIK) obtained with a mechanical microkeratome or a femtosecond laser.METHODS: Retrospective, nonrandomized, cohort study. A total of 3826 eyes were included in the study(1725 eyes treated with mechanical LASIK and 2101 eyes treated with femtosecond LASIK). The relationship between patient age and the 3-month postoperative visual and refractive results of both procedures were analyzed by linear regression analysis.RESULTS: Three months postoperatively, we found a significant correlation between age and the postoperative spherical equivalent(SE; r2=0.004, P=0.006), efficacy(r2=0.006, P=0.001), and safety indexes(r2=0.05, P=0.0001) in the mechanical LASIK group. On the other hand, we found a significant correlation between age and the postoperative SE(r2=0.02, P=0.0001) and the efficacy index(r2=0.01, P=0.0001) but not the safety index in the femtosecond laser group. Mechanical LASIK provided slightly but significantly better efficacy and predictability in patients 18 to 40 years of age and femtosecond LASIK did so in patients older than 40 years of age. The femtosecond laser provided better safety results than the mechanical microkeratome in both age groups. CONCLUSION: A tendency toward undercorrection and less predictability is found with aging after myopic LASIK regardless of whether the flap was created with a mechanical microkeratome or a femtosecond laser. However, femtosecond laser provides significantly betteroutcomes in terms of efficacy, safety and predictability compared to mechanical microkeratome for the correction of myopia in patients over 40 y.