Femtosecond Laser Cataract Surgery: Updates on Technologies and Outcomes

Abstract

Femtosecond laser cataract surgery is a good addition to cataract surgery despite its few remarkable advantages among experienced phacoemulsification surgeons.

Femtosecond laser–assisted cataract surgery—current status and future directions

“…119 They found no differences between the FLACS and manual groups, in postoperative sphere (-0.60 ± 1.50 vs -0.50 ± 1.40 D), postoperative cylinder (1.30 ± 1.01 vs 1.10 ± 1.10 D), uncorrected distance visual acuity (0.86 ± 0.15 vs 0.88 ± 0.08), or corrected distance visual acuity (0.97 ± 0.08 vs 0.97 ± 0.06). However, they noted that the FLACS group had significantly lower values of higher order aberrations intraocular vertical tilt (vertical deviation in the direction of the beam of light; -0.05 ± 0.36 vs 0.27 ± 0.57), all measured cycles per degree, compared to the manual capsulorhexis group.In a recent review, Alio et al summarized that the clinical comparative studies performed failed to demonstrate any statistical significance of FLACS versus conventional phacoemulsification surgery concerning the visual outcomes and corrected visual acuity 16. …”

Comparative study of femtosecond laser‐assisted cataract surgery and conventional phacoemulsification in vitrectomized eyes

“…12,13 The development of FLACS is purported to have certain advantages over conventional lens surgery with respect to lens centration and stability, lower mechanical energy requirements and decreased phacoemulsification time. 3,[14][15][16] These factors may also facilitate intraocular surgery, such as the removal of macular membranes. 17 These advantages offer clear theoretical benefits over conventional phacoemulsification in a postvitrectomy setting.…”

Femtosecond-Laser-Assisted Cataract Surgery (FLACS)

“…Catalys and LensAR have reported a fluid filled suction ring. LensAR has reported a water bath suction fixation device [18]. Femto LDV has reported a liquid interface [19].…”

“…Such manually created incisions may affect the stability of the wound under pressure following surgery and potentially allow leakage [24]. One of the most important advantages of FLACS is that the corneal incisions can be designed to construct reproducible and stable incisions, so that the incision width and length may be customized according to this precept with a high degree of integrity [18,24]. Favorable results of more stable and aberration-free results from FLACS were reported in the triplanar configuration [25].…”