Technique targets source of rainbow glare symptoms
Rainbow glare rarely occurs after femto-LASIK surgery and is usually transient. Phototherapeutic keratectomy of the flap undersurface targets the cause of the glare and has been used to immediately resolve symptoms in patients with persistent disabling rainbow glare.
Reviewed by Damien Gatinel, MD
Paris-Undersurface ablation of the LASIK flap appears to be an effective method for resolving rainbow glare after femto-LASIK surgery, according to Damien Gatinel, MD.
In 2015, Dr. Gatinel and colleagues published their first experience using this technique to correct rainbow glare [J Refract Surg. 2015;31(6):406-410]. The patient was a 33-year-old woman who complained of rainbow glare in her right eye and also had about -0.75 D of residual myopic astigmatism. A single refractive ablation of the flap undersurface successfully corrected both the residual astigmatism and the rainbow glare.
More refractive:
Subsequently, Dr. Gatinel has performed the procedure in several other patients and found it to be consistently safe and effective, resulting in immediate resolution of the symptoms without any adverse events, including no changes in uncorrected vision in patients who already had a good refractive and functional outcome after LASIK.
“Rainbow glare is a rare optical side effect of femto-LASIK that usually occurs unilaterally, or at least is much more prominent in one eye, and is usually transient, disappearing within a few weeks or months,” said Dr. Gatinel, assistant professor of ophthalmology, and head, anterior segment and refractive surgery department, Rothschild Ophthalmology Foundation, Paris. “Occasionally, however, the visual symptoms are persistent and very disturbing to patients.
Internal server error