What is automated lamellar keratoplasty (ALK)?
Automated Lamellar Keratoplasty (ALK) for nearsightedness is a procedure that has been replaced by LASIK in recent years. ALK corrects nearsightedness by removing a thin layer of tissue from the cornea to flatten the eye’s surface. Unlike RK, which flattens the eye by making incisions into the surface, ALK actually removes a thin disk from the cornea, leaving it thinner and flatter than it originally was. The disadvantage of ALK is that it is not nearly as accurate as the Excimer laser for the tissue removal step, so multiple procedures are sometimes needed to achieve the final correction. LASIK is a combination of ALK and PRK.
