Hello, I have metal flakes in my right eye. They have lifted the flap and tried to clean, but the fragments are still there. How might the flakes be removed? Do they need to be removed? Why did this happen? Thank you!!

I have never had a patient with metal flakes in the eye from LASIK, although we do ocassionally see metal flakes inside the eye following cataract surgery from the cataract surgery probe. The flakes are very tiny and do not cause a problem when they are inside the eye.
Being a cornea specialist, I also see plenty of people with metallic foreign bodies from working at machine shops, etc. These are generally superficial, and can almost always be removed. However, if a piece of metal is very deep and not in the visual axis, we will leave the metal inside the cornea .
As for metal in the bed of a LASIK surgery - again I have not heard of this happenning, but perhaps it is debris from the microkeratome blade (which makes the flap). In this situation, it should be pretty easy to lift the flap and remove the metallic fragment. If the fragment has tiny and is out of the visual axis, it potentially can be left in place - but if it is in the center there would be concern that it could interfere mildly with vision.
I hope this is helpful

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL