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New technique promises to give LASIK patients a "Lift"

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, December 28, 2004

A recently-introduced technique is set to make the corrective vision surgical proces LASIK safer and more effective for the growing numbers of patients opting for the surgery.
 
According to the Medical Letter on the CDC & FDA, the FDA has approved the EpiLift System, developed in Germany, for use in the United States. The process involves ophthalmologists separating the top layer of the eye, the epithelium, from the Bowman's layer membrane, and "lifting" the epithelium tissue away from the cornea. The LASIK procedure, in which a laser is used to reshape the cornea, is then able to be performed. The EpiLift process is said to combine aspects of refractive surgeries, LASIK and PRK.

The new process is regarded as a improvement on standard LASIK surgery, in which a flap is made in the top layer of the eye before the laser is used. The problem that doctors and patients have long found with this method is that the flap never fully heals, which has been known to lead to complications and possible vision problems down the line. The EpiLift system does not require cutting into the cornea at all, and allows the eye and the epithelium to regrow connections, eliminating some of the safety concerns of the current LASIK model.
 
The EpiLift system is being marketed in the U.S., Japan, Korea and several European countries by VisiJet Inc. of Irvine, CA.

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