Scheimpflug Topography Oriented Adequate Repositioning of a Misaligned Free Flap after Laser in situ Keratomileusis

Abstract

This report describes a case of Scheimpflug topography oriented adequate repositioning of a misaligned thick free flap after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). A 24-year-old patient consulted for irregular astigmatism and disoriented free right eye flap. The patient previously underwent binocular LASIK at a private clinic. During the right eye surgery, the flap was repositioned after laser ablation due to the free flap. The free flap was not repositioned to its original configuration due to insufficient preoperative corneal marking. On examination, the uncorrected visual acuity was 0.4, and refractive power was +2.00 Dsph with −4.25 Dcyl axis 66 in the right eye. Scheimpflug topography revealed irregular right eye astigmatism. The sagittal curvature of topography showed a 40° counterclockwise misalignment of the steep axis of the cornea. The free flap was repositioned by 40° clockwise rotation. After this, the refractive corneal power improved to −1.00 Dsph with −1.00 Dcyl Axis 19 in the right eye. The uncorrected and best-corrected visual acuity improved to 20/30 and 20/25 (x − 0.25Dsph −1.25 Dcyl A20), respectively. This is the first report on free flap repositioning using Scheimpflug topography. As proper flap positioning was compromised because of the free LASIK flap with no preoperative corneal marking, the flap was effectively repositioned using Scheimpflug topography.