Abstract: Objective To investigate the influence of the negative pressure suction during femtosecond laser assisted LASIK on the macular retinal thickness and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in myopia eyes. Design Prospective, comparative case series. Participants One hundred and forty three myopia patients (279 eyes) were enrolled in the study． Methods The thickness of macular central fovea and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness were measured using optical coherence tomography(OCT) before and after femto second laser assisted LASIK． The myopic eyes were divided into two groups, the high myopia(<-6.00 D) group and medium to low myopia (≥-6.00 D) group. The macular (or RNFL) scan pattern come from three 3 mm (or 3.4 mm) diameter circular scans centered on macular central fovea (or the optic nerve head ) acquired in rapid succession. Main Outcome Measures Macular and RNFL thickness. Results Before surgery there were no statistical difference between the two groups（P>0.05）. After 1 year, in the low and medium myopia group and the high myopia group, the average thickness of fovea and average RNFL thickness in superior, nasal, inferior, and temporal were (147.2±18.3)μm, (62.4±15.7)μm, (94.3±20.2)μm, (136.4±17.6)μm, (131.3±21.7)μm;（149.3±18.7）μm, (59.3±19.0)μm, (90.7±17.2)μm, (129.2±25.1)μm, (123.3±21.8)μm respectively. None of the macular thickness and RNFL thickness parameters were found to have a significant change between preoperation and 1 year after surgery. Conclusions Negative pressure suction during femtosecond laser LASIK dont't significantly affect the macular retinal thickness and RNFL thickness parameters postoperatively. （Ophthalmol CHN, 2012, 21: 340-343）

Key words: femtosecond laser, myopia, retinal thickness, retinal nerve fiber layer