We frequently have patients with a history of prior LASIK who are now undergoing cataract surgery. We have explained in detail how the IOL calculations are different in these eyes, but there are also other considerations. One of those is avoiding making your cataract surgery incisions in the tissue that has already been altered by the LASIK. In most cases, this is relatively easy since the LASIK flaps are central and away from the limbal edge. In this case, however, there is a very decentered LASIK flap and it precludes us from making our usual temporal phaco incision. We shift the incision to a different location and then use an innovative way to address the corneal astigmatism.
click below to see how to handle cataract surgery in this unusual case:
Wouldn’t it be more prudent to leave the opposite incision until after completing the cataract procedure so you don’t have fluid egress from 3 main incisions?