Early changes to dry eye and ocular surface after small-incision lenticule extraction for myopia

Abstract

AIM: To investigate the early changes in dry eye symptoms, tear function and ocular surface following small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) for myopia. METHODS: Ninety-seven consecutive patients (193 eyes) who underwent SMILE for myopia were observed in this longitudinal and retrospective study. Parameters evaluated included: subjective dry eye symptoms (dryness, foreign body sensation and photophobia), tear film breakup time (TBUT), Schirmer Ⅰ test (SⅠT) without anesthesia, tear meniscus height (TMH) and corneal fluorescein staining. Each parameter was evaluated before, and subsequently at 1d, 1wk, 1 and 3mo after surgery. RESULTS: Compared with preoperative data, dryness was noted to be significantly increased at 1wk and 1mo postoperatively (P0.05). Conversely the corneal staining scores were higher than the preoperative data at 1d, 1wk and 1mo (P0.05). TBUT was significantly decreased at all postoperative time points (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: SMILE resulted in mild dry eye symptoms, tear film instability and ocular surface damages; however, these complications can recover in a short period of time.

Keywords

• dry eye
• myopia
• ocular surface
• small-incision lenticule extraction