ReLEx® SMILE® Surgery | All you need to know

ReLEx® SMILE® is a laser technique developed by ZEISS for the correction of vision defects. It is a treatment method which combines the extensive experience and superior safety of traditional vision correction techniques with some theoretical benefits.

What is the principle behind ReLEx® SMILE®?

The ReLEx® SMILE® principle: The high-precision VisuMax® femtosecond laser creates a small lens (lenticule) inside the intact cornea, the volume and form of which are determined by the degree of vision defect to be corrected. This lenticule is then removed from the interior of the cornea through a small access measuring just a few millimeters. There is no flap incision, the area of the incision is reduced to a minimum and the outer corneal layers remain more or less intact. Surgery is performed only with a femtosecond laser and not with an excimer laser. There is no pupil tracking or wavefront correction performed during SMILE®.

Benefits of ReLEx® SMILE®

Entire treatment carried out using femtosecond laser (all-femto). The use of high-precision femtosecond technology gives outstanding predictability of results, even in cases of severe myopia (> -7.00 D). Stabilisation of visual acuity typically occurs within 14 days.
Single-step treatment. The entire laser correction is in a single treatment, there’s no device change during the operation, so it’s completed quickly.
Flapless treatment. Minimally invasive access measuring just a few millimeters. There is almost complete preservation of the protective corneal layer (epithelium) and stabilizing outer corneal layers (Bowman’s membrane). The maximum number of corneal nerves responsible for tear regulation remain intact. All leading to a painless procedure and recovery.

Whilst there are these theoretical benefits of ReLEx® SMILE® over traditional LASIK there are also currently several shortcomings. For this reason at OCL we plan to introduce the Z-Lenticule procedure which combines the theoretical benefits of ReLEx® SMILE® with several additional features. These additional features which are unique to the Z-Lenticule procedure include gentle low energy laser and pupil tracking. We hope to offer this procedure by the end of 2019.

Please call us on 0203 369 2020 or complete our contact form if you could like to find out more.