keratomileusis

noun

ker·​at·​o·​mil·​eu·​sis ˌker-ə-tō-mil-ˈ(y)ü-səs 

: a surgical procedure for correcting the refractive power of the eye to improve vision that formerly involved removing, freezing, reshaping, and reinserting a section of the cornea but now typically involves reshaping the cornea in place with the use of an excimer laser compare lasik

Examples of keratomileusis in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Lasik — short for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis — eliminates the need for glasses by reshaping the cornea, the clear round dome that covers the front of the eye. —Author: Roni Caryn Rabin, Anchorage Daily News, 12 June 2018

Cutting Nerves Within the Eye Lasik — short for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis — eliminates the need for glasses by reshaping the cornea, the clear round dome that covers the front of the eye. —New York Times, 11 June 2018

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from Spanish queratomileusis, from querato- kerato- + -mileusis, probably erroneously for Greek smīleúsis "carving," from smī́lē "knife, scalpel" (of uncertain origin) + -eusis, action-noun suffix of verbs ending in -euō, -euein

Note: The word was presumably coined by the pioneer of the surgical procedure, the Spanish-born ophthalmologist José Ignacio Barraquer Moner (1916-98); it occurs in his paper "Queratomileusis para la correción de la miopía," Archivos de la Sociedad Americana de Oftalmología y Optometría, vol. 5 (1964), pp. 27-48.

First Known Use

1978, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

keratomileusis

noun

ker·​at·​o·​mil·​eu·​sis ˌker-ət-ō-mil-ˈ(y)ü-səs 

: a surgical procedure for correcting the refractive power of the eye to improve vision that formerly involved removing, freezing, reshaping, and reinserting a section of the cornea but now typically involves reshaping the cornea in place with the use of an excimer laser see lasik