LASEK laser eye surgery vs Bladeless LASIK

LASEK laser eye surgery

Bladeless LASIK is a term used to market a newer type of LASIK introduced in 1999, also known as Intralase. Many people are made to wrongly assume that there is no cutting and no flap making in IntraLase LASIK as they have marketed the term ‘bladeless LASIK’ or ‘all laser’ Intralase.

Instead of using a surgical blade as in traditional LASIK, the "all laser" IntraLase eye surgery still cuts the cornea with a laser and still involves a flap. Intralase (bladeless LASIK) has claimed a reduced risk of intraoperative flap complications of the old LASIK because the laser is programmed to cut the cornea at a precise thickness. However, the risk of having flap related complications is not eliminated because it is not possible to eliminate this problem when the flap itself is still present.

In addition, the introduction of Intralase also creates a unique new set of problems like severe light sensitivity (photophobia) that can last from weeks to month, rainbow glare, opaque bubble layer and etc.

The newer LASEK laser eye surgery does not involve cutting and is a non-flap procedure, which means it eliminates LASIK flap complications.  With this new breakthrough, it is undisputable that the no-cuts, no-flaps LASEK eye surgery is so far the safest laser vision correction.