gms | German Medical Science

28. Kongress der Deutschsprachigen Gesellschaft für Intraokularlinsen-Implantation, Interventionelle und Refraktive Chirurgie (DGII)

Gesellschaft für Intraokularlinsen-Implantation, Interventionelle und Refraktive Chirurgie (DGII)

06.03. - 08.03.2014, Bochum

Treatment of cases by SMILE not considered candidates for LASIK or PRK

Meeting Abstract

Search Medline for

  • Dan Z. Reinstein - London, United Kingdom

Deutschsprachige Gesellschaft für Intraokularlinsen-Implantation, Interventionelle und Refraktive Chirurgie. 28. Kongress der Deutschsprachigen Gesellschaft für Intraokularlinsen-Implantation, Interventionelle und Refraktive Chirurgie (DGII). Bochum, 06.-08.03.2014. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2014. Doc14dgii052

doi: 10.3205/14dgii052, urn:nbn:de:0183-14dgii0529

Published: March 4, 2014

© 2014 Reinstein.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

Text

This talk will discuss the all-in-one femtosecond laser corneal refractive surgery procedure called small incision lenticule extraction (ReLEx smile) – a keyhole intra-stromal form of keratomileusis – using the VisuMax femtosecond laser. The talk will discuss the potential advantages of the smile procedure compared with LASIK and PRK due to the anterior stromal lamellae remaining intact. Firstly, dry eye symptoms may be improved as the anterior corneal nerve plexus is less affected, which has been demonstrated by faster recovery of corneal sensation and corneal reinnervation. Secondly, SMILE leaves the cornea with greater postoperative tensile strength as the anterior stromal lamellae, the strongest part of the stroma, are not cut; this results in less biomechanically induced spherical aberration. Despite SMILE lenticule profiles being spherical, induction of spherical aberration in SMILE is lower than the most modern aspheric LASIK ablation profiles for equivalent tissue removal. In preserving stronger anterior stromal lamellae, SMILE optical zones can be safely increased to improve spherical aberration control while still leaving postoperative relative corneal tensile strength higher than for an equivalent modern highly spherically optimised LASIK procedure.