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SMILE
Cataract & Refractive Surgery
Key Points
- •SMILE's main advantage over LASIK is superior corneal nerve preservation - the sub-basal nerve plexus is largely undisturbed, resulting in significantly less dry eye.
- •SMILE preserves the anterior corneal stroma and Bowman's layer, providing theoretically better biomechanical stability than LASIK.
- •Currently approved for myopia -1 to -10 D and astigmatism up to -3 D; NOT approved for hyperopia.
- •The most feared intraoperative complication is a torn or incomplete lenticule - especially with thin lenticules in low myopia (< -2 D).
- •Enhancement after SMILE is more complex than LASIK - options include PRK over the cap or the Circle procedure (converting cap to flap).
- •Learning curve is steeper than LASIK (~50–100 cases) - lenticule dissection and extraction are the key skills.
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17 more sections are included with the Clinical plan.
- Definition
- Epidemiology
- Aetiology and causes
- Pathogenesis
- Classification
- Risk factors and associations