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Refractive Surgery

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology

  • 36 Accesses

Synonyms

Refractive eye surgery

Definition

Eye surgery used to correct refractive and eliminate or reduce a patients’ need for wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Basic Characteristics

One must differentiate between laser (flap and surface procedures) and non-laser refractive surgery.

Laser eye surgery can be divided into flap and surface procedures. Flap procedures include automated lamellar keratoplasty (ALK) and laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK).

Surface procedures are Epi-LASIK, laser-assisted subepithelial keratomileusis (LASEK), and photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).

Non-laser refractive surgery includes implantable lenses, intrastromal corneal ring segments (Intacs), conductive keratoplasty (CK), astigmatic keratotomy (AK), radial keratotomy (RK), and limbal relaxing incisions (LRI). RK, AK, and LRI are counted among corneal incision procedures.

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Further Reading

  • Albert DM, Miller JW, Azar DT (2008) Albert & Jakobiec’s principles & practice of ophthalmology. Saunders, Philadelphia

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, 60590, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

    Marko Ostovic & Thomas Kohnen

Authors
  1. Marko Ostovic
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  2. Thomas Kohnen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marko Ostovic .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Ophthal & Optometry,AKH, Medical University of Wien Dept of Ophthal & Optometry,AKH, Wien, Austria

    Ursula Schmidt-Erfurth

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main Department of Ophthalmology, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Thomas Kohnen

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Ostovic, M., Kohnen, T. (2012). Refractive Surgery. In: Schmidt-Erfurth, U., Kohnen, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35951-4_365-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35951-4_365-4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35951-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine

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