The corneal biomechanical changes after SMILE and LASIK refractive surgery were compared based on finite element analysis

Abstract

The three-dimensional (3D) finite element model of human eye was established, and the intraocular pressure (IOP) was loaded to simulate refractive surgery. The biomechanical properties of human cornea after SMILE and LASIK surgery were studied from the stress, strain and induced wavefront aberration. Our results showed that SMILE had less impact on the biomechanics, having less stress and strain changes than LASIK. However, the stress and strain of the cornea increased with the increase of the diopter and were concentrated in the central region. We also investigated the changes in wavefront aberrations of the cornea after surgery, and the results indicated that the defocus and vertical commotion were significantly affected by SMILE and LASIK surgery, while the remaining aberrations were approximately unchanged. In conclusion, both SMILE and LASIK sergury procedures changed the postoperative corneal biomechanics, but SMILE had less impact on the biomechanics of corneal.