The previous question seems to be this one: Calculating previous/next from database

Calling fetch only once is fine if you only need the first row. Whenever you are done with the statement handle, just call finish:

my ($id, $title);

my $sth = $dbh->prepare("SELECT id, title FROM images WHERE id > ? LIM
+IT 1");
$sth->bind_columns(\$id, \$title);
$sth->execute($some_value);
$sth->fetch;
$sth->finish;
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However, I would suggest not binding columns and, instead, use fetchrow_hashref:

my $sth = $dbh->prepare(...);
$sth->execute(...);
my $row = $sth->fetchrow_hashref;
unless ($row) {
  # no rows returned
} else {
  # process $row
}
$sth->finish;
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This approach also makes it easier to determine if the query returned no rows - a case that your code should be written to handle.