I am an MRI technologist and the question of metallic fragments left in the eye post lasik has been mentioned on our international MRI forum. According to the meesage and reply below, there can be fragments left in the cornea. The question we have is, what type of metal would this be? If the flakes are from your equipment, is the equipment made of non-ferrous material? Obviously, ferrous objects, even tiny flakes, could be very problematic if located in the eye itself. Our scanners cause heating as well as torque/movement in ferrous material. We routinely screen metal workers for this reason.
Thank you
"Debris"
Posted by Laurie - Middletown, OH on 07:31:15 7/12/2000
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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!!

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1. "Metal flakes"
Posted by William B. Trattler, MD on 18:44:23 7/12/2000
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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

There was another poster named Amy that complained of this same problem with metal fragments after intralase. I know because i talked to her in person after experiencing the same symptoms. She had Intralase in the same office as me but a different Doctor. The flap was lifted and she is ok now but has told me that she could see better before enhancement. My irritation decreased significantly after enhancement and my sight improved dramatically. I noticed the poke in the eye feeling relieved as I was walking out of surgery and always have wondered if something got cleaned out.

Perhaps there was something cleaned out during your IntraLasik enhancement surgery, but it seems highly unlikely that it would have been metal fragments.

One of the perceived advantages of a Lasik flap created with a femtosecond laser is that there is no metal blade involved. The laser forms a Lasik flap by creating a series of bubbles in the cornea. No blade and no mechanical microkeratome.

The hand held devices used by the surgeon to manipulate the flap are made of very high quality surgical steel that would have been sterilized. There would be no reason to expect a metal fragment from these devices either.

Glenn Hagele
http://USAEyes.org
Lasik Patient Advocacy & Surgeon Certification

I am not a doctor.

Glenn,
I probably wasn't clear in my post but Amy's Doctor did indeed tell her that he found metal under the flap. He didn't know how it got there but Amy's discomfort was relieved after the flap was back in place.

Actually you were clear, I just did not read your post clearly. I too do not understand how metal fragments would get under the flap with IntraLasik.

I went with a member in my ectasia support/study group when she had her flap measured by confocal microscopy. The technician doing the exam pointed out the tiny metal flecks and told us they were from the blade that cut her flap.

A few months later she had to have an MRI. There were absolutely no problems.