Epi Lasek or Intralase Lasik (Both with Wavefront)

first of all, you and all the readers need to be clear that epiLASEK is noncutting, and IntraLase is cutting. many offices market IntraLase as "bladeless" which i suspect is a semi-intentional way to "confuse the public" and think that IntraLase is non-cutting, which is not true

all IntraLase is is cutting your cornea in half with a laser, instead of a metal blade. it is slightly safer than cutting with a metal blade, as you can make the flap both thinner (which decreases how deep into the eye you go) and more accurate. however, if you get punched in the eye, the flap can still come up, as your eye doesn't exactly "remember" what tool was used to make the cut--only that you were cut, and the flap never really heals (which is why you can enhance LASIK and IntraLase flaps for years afterwards, just by poking the flap with a little metal instrument and "popping the flap back up")

epiLASEK, which is the term i'm trying to get MDs and the public to use, because it sounds more like LASEK, and is really much more like LASEK than LASIK, does not involve making any cut into your eye at all. for this reason it is safer, because you obviously can't have a flap complication, either during or after your procedure, since you aren't having your eye cut in the first place.

what the other MD said is true, that the recovery is longer after epiLASEK (3-4 days) than after IntraLase. if i were a patient, i would think a couple of days slower recovery is worth a stronger, safer eye for the rest of your life, but the consumer has to make that choice

regarding quality of vision, when i switched from performing incisional procedures (LASIK and IntraLase) to nonincisional ones (LASEK and epiLASEK) back in 2005, the night vision of my patients improved dramatically. this is because after a cutting process, your cornea is forever in 2 pieces, with an interface between those 2 pieces of your cornea. so when light comes in (esp at night) there is some reflection, refraction, and back-scatter of this light across the flap interface, which causes some night glare

this is probably why i have some night glare after my own LASIK, and why i switched to the noncutting ASA (Advanced Surface Ablations) 5 years ago

so, in summary, my advice to you is to get an epiLASEK over an IntraLase, for the above reasons

there are other reasons why your vision is better after epiLASEK than IntraLase also having to do with the flap that is cut messing up your WaveFront treatment, so your CustomVue map is distorted, but i can't get into this further here as i actually have to run and see/treat some live patients now!:) hope this helps!

We offer both Epi-LASEK and Intralase in our clinic and have many patients in both categories. There is some data that suggests that Epi-LASEK might provide slighter better long term vision performance results over Intralase but the choice of one over the other is not always clear and certainly varies from patient to patient.  Other studies suggest that Intralase might have a shorter recovery time and better safety profile.  There are many factors to consider and a trained refractive surgeon should certainly be involved when trying to decide which treatment to undergo since your eyes are unique to you.  Some surgeons might feel more comfortable with one type of technology as well.  Both Epi-LASEK and Intralase provide excellent results so in most cases it wouldn't matter which one a patient receives.  Most likely, they would be very happy with either.