Smile Laser Surgery | Refractive Eye Surgery

SMILE laser is a type of excimer laser surgery and is gaining attention as a new treatment method for patients suffering from myopia, astigmatism and dry eyes. With SMILE laser technology, successful results are achieved even in very high levels of myopia and astigmatism. Patients suffering from dry eye problems can now be safely treated with this method.

What is the Smile Laser?

Smile Laser stands for Small Incision Lenticule Extraction. It means removing the lenticule (piece of the cornea) through a small incision. Smile laser is a femtosecond laser technique. With a femtosecond laser, an amount of tissue (lenticule) is marked on the transparent cornea, which will correct the level of the eye, laser shots are made around this tissue with a femtosecond laser, and the resulting tissue called a lenticule is removed through an incision in the cornea.

Advantages of the SMILE Laser Method:

The biggest advantages of the SMILE method can be listed as preserving the integrity of the cornea, not making a large incision, not affecting the optic nerves, minimizing pain and stinging after the operation, and can be applied to those with dry eyes.

Other advantages:

Treatment up to -10 eye degrees in myopia, -5 eye degrees in astigmatism

Suitability for thin cornea structure

Non-incisional operation with closed surgical technique

One-step operation

Safe, painless recovery

How is Smile Laser Surgery Performed?

For the purpose of refraction, laser operations are performed on the cornea located in the front of the eye.

An anesthetic drop is first injected into the patient's eye, which numbs the pain and prevents the patient from feeling any pain. A connection is made between the laser device and the eye to ensure a perfect match.

In the SMILE method, visual defects are corrected by removing a tissue called a lenticule from the inside of the cornea through a 2 mm opening. As a result, the corneal nerves, which are affected to some extent in other laser methods, are not damaged in the SMILE method. Therefore, patients experience a slight burning sensation in the eyes immediately after the operation and do not feel dry eyes in the following weeks. Due to this advantage, the SMILE method allows us to perform laser treatment on patients with dry eyes that we could not treat before. Another advantage of the SMILE laser is that it makes it possible to treat patients who were previously inoperable due to thin corneas.

Who is not Smile Laser Surgery?

• People with changes in eye numbers
• People with diabetes
• Those who have certain eye infections
• Patients who are breastfeeding or pregnant
• Those who have cataract problems at a level that will obstruct vision
• Persons under 18 years of age
• People with hyperopia problems