Abstract
Purpose: :
To study the cut quality of lamellar dissections prepared with the 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 500 kHz femtosecond lasers (FL).
Methods: :
18 human globes (9 pairs) were enrolled in the study. 6 globes were cut with the VisuMax 500 kHz FL. 200, 300, and 400 micron deep cuts were made each at low (180 nJ) and high (340 nJ) energy settings [1.6 µ spot and line sep]. 4 globes were cut with the Intralase 30 kHz FL. 200 and 400 micron deep cuts were made each at low (1.9 µj) and high (2.9) µJ) energy settings [ 1.9 µ spot and line sep]. 6 globes were cut with the Intralase 60 kHz FL. 200, 300, and 400 micron deep cuts were made each at at low (1.9 µj) and high (2.9) µJ) energy settings [ 1.9 µ spot and line sep]. Right eyes were used for low energy setting and left eyes were used for high energy settings in each group. Environmental scanning electron microscopy (eSEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were performed on the corneas to assess the quality of the cuts. Results were compared within each group separately.
Results: :
The 200 micron cut with high energy settings resulted in the smoothest dissection in 60 kHz and 500 kHz FL. The 400 micron cut with low energy settings resulted in the roughest dissection in all FL.
Conclusions: :
Shallow cuts with higher energy setting resulted in smoother cuts in each group. Depth of cut and laser energy settings of the FL affect the quality of the corneal lamellar dissection.
Keywords: microscopy: electron microscopy • imaging/image analysis: non-clinical • cornea: stroma and keratocytes