Flapless laser procedure for myopia :
Small Incision Lenticle Extraction : SMILE
In this method, the actual laser treatment is carried out exclusively with the „VisuMax“ laser by preparing a lenticle (a corneal flap). The surgeon then uses the femtosecond laser to make a minimal incision of about 3 mm to loosen and remove the flap. The innovative SMILE method was developed by the Zeiss company and is the first minimally invasive intrastromal laser procedure for the treatment of myopia and astigmatism worldwide.
With this procedure, side effects such as dry eyes or a foreign body sensation only occur to a lesser extent or not at all, because the correction is carried out in the intact cornea. Unlike LASIK or Femto-LASIK, it is no longer necessary to open up the cornea. „Flap miscuts“ can no longer occur with this method.
Femtosecond lenticle extraction: the treatment procedure
- The eye is locally anaesthetised with drops.
- An eyelid holder is inserted to hold the eye open.
- A small curved glass surface (contact glass) is placed on the eye to hold it in place.
- The laser treatment takes place through the glass surface: a lens-shaped corneal flap (lenticule) is prepared under the corneal surface with the femtosecond laser. The cornea is then perforated by the laser with tiny air bubbles. The prepared corneal flap is pulled out through a small, straight laser incision at the edge of the cornea.
Prerequisites for femtosecond lenticle extraction SMILE:
- Sufficiently thick cornea in the patient
- No chronic progressive corneal diseases (e.g. keratoconus)
- Existing refractive error must be stable
- No eye disease such as glaucoma or cataract
- No general diseases such as wound healing disorders, autoimmune diseases, collagenoses
- No pregnancy
- Minimum age 18 years
Superiority of SMILE femtosecond lenticule extraction over other laser treatments.
- There are no incision defects (of a flap)
- No flap of the cornea
- Lenticle preparation in the intact cornea
- There is only a small wound on the surface of the cornea
- Minimally invasive access of a few millimetres
- Due to the enormous precision of this computer-controlled laser intervention, operations can be carried out even with critical corneal thickness.
- Virtually complete preservation of the protective corneal covering layer (epithelium)
- No or only slight pain
- No scarring on the cornea
- Short rehabilitation time
- Practically unchanged stability of the cornea postoperatively
- Complete laser correction in only one treatment step
- No change of equipment during the procedure
- Post-operative corrections are relatively simple and very safe
Correction spectrum of femtosecond lenticle extraction SMILE
With the SMILE femtosecond lenticule extraction - depending on the thickness of the cornea - visual defects up to approx. -10 diopters of short-sightedness incl. astigmatism of up to 5 diopters can be permanently corrected.
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