| Bryce Carlson 2005-01-27, 8:52 am |
| Not so, Rags. No respected investigators make the claim that the LASIK flap
"eventually regains 90% of it's original integrity." Around the outer
circumference of the flap, where there is a lot of aggressive healing, this
is very likely true, but at the flap interface the healing process is not
nearly as aggressive. In time, adhesive glycosaminoglycans do securely bond
the flap to the stromal bed, and collagen stromal infiltrates grow and
extend through the flap and interface further "stitching" the flap to the
stroma, but the final result even after two or three years is an integrity
between the flap and the stroma of about 50% (not 90%) of its original
strength, with a standard deviation based on individual healing patterns of
about 10%. So, the range would be from about 40% to about 60% of the
pre-LASIK strength, with a mean of about 50%. Therefore, although the LASIK
flap does heal very securely, and does eventually contribute to some
significant degree to the biomechanical strength of the cornea, it never
regains 100% of its original strength. Once you've had LASIK, you've always
had LASIK.
Bryce Carlson
"Ragnar" wrote in message news:
> That's more than 250 um UNTOUCHED after... that the flap that is another
> 150 um or so thick is replaced and eventually regains 90% of it's
> integrity.
>
> (snip)
|