Keratomileusis, from Greek κέρας (kéras: horn) and σμίλευσις (smíleusis: carving),The word is derived from Greek κέρας - keras (root: kerat-) "horn, cornea" and σμίλευσις - smileusis "carving

or corneal reshaping, is the Surgery, surgical improvement of the refractive state of the

cornea The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber. Along with the anterior chamber and lens, the cornea refracts light, accounting for approximately two-thirds of the eye's total optical ...

by surgically reshaping it. It is the most common form of

refractive surgery Refractive eye surgery is optional eye surgery used to improve the refractive state of the eye and decrease or eliminate dependency on glasses or contact lenses. This can include various methods of surgical remodeling of the cornea ( keratomil ...

. The first usable technique was developed by José Ignacio Barraquer, commonly called "the father of modern refractive surgery." The most common modern procedure, LASIK, is performed by lifting the front surface of the

eye Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...

by forming a thin hinged flap under which the shape of the cornea is changed by using an

excimer laser An excimer laser, sometimes more correctly called an exciplex laser, is a form of ultraviolet laser which is commonly used in the production of microelectronic devices, semiconductor based integrated circuits or "chips", eye surgery, and micr ...

or other surgical device. A microkeratome is usually used to cut the flap, but a

femtosecond A femtosecond is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to 10 or of a second; that is, one quadrillionth, or one millionth of one billionth, of a second. For context, a femtosecond is to a second as a second is to about 3 ...

laser can also be used to make the flap. Before the advent of the excimer laser, keratomileusis was performed using a cryolathe, which froze thin flaps of corneal tissue and lathe cut them much like one cuts the lens of a pair of glasses. After thawing, these reshaped flaps were placed under the front flap to correct visual improvement. LASIK is currently the most commonly performed keratomileusis procedure.

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Eye surgery {{treatment-stub

See also

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