Epithelial ingrowth is an uncommon complication of lasik. The incidence of visually significant epithelial ingrowth is about 1% in primary cases and 2% on enhancement cases in microkeratome-assisted flap creation.1,2 The incidence may be less with femtosecond-assisted flap creation.3,4
For mild and non-progressive epithelial ingrowth (Grade 1), no treatment is required. If vision is affected or there are symptoms, however, treatment is indicated. The surgeon will need to lift the flap and scrape the epithelial cells, both from the undersurface of the flap and from the stromal bed.
Los Alamos Family Eyecare, P.C. 