What are the different ways of making a LASIK flap?

There are two methods of actually creating a flap on the cornea. So the flap is the first stage of the laser procedure, so it doesn’t influence the actual treatment. It’s how the flap is created before the treatment occurs.

The traditional method was microkeratome, which is the first way, which is a mechanical method where a blade actually makes that cut. A more modern way of doing it is called femtosecond laser, where a laser actually creates the flap.

The advantage with a laser creating the flap is that it can create different sort of flap thicknesses and with more control over what it’s doing.

Over the years, there’s been a big shift to femtosecond laser surgery, where hardly any surgeries are actually done anymore with microkeratomes.

If you want to see if you’re a good candidate to have eye laser surgery, then I would encourage you to take the self test. It will take a few minutes of your time and give you a good idea if you can take the next step into getting better vision without glasses and contact lenses.