If you wear contact lenses or corrective eyeglasses, the chances are that you have given corrective eye surgeries a thought. People around you might have even suggested undergoing laser eye surgeries. Well, people are not wrong! Laser eye surgery is a good idea if you want to be free from lenses and eyeglasses for good. In this regard, you mainly have two options – SMILE and Lasik eye surgery. Though both are great options, there are several differences and similarities between the two eye surgeries. So, let’s get to know more about both before making a decision!
What is Lasik eye surgery?
LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) is the most common type of laser eye surgery performed to treat astigmatism, farsightedness (hyperopia), and nearsightedness (myopia). Now, that clarifies the basis of ‘what is a Lasik eye surgery?’
LASIK reshapes the corneal eye surface to let light enter the eyes and focus on the retina minus the contact lenses or glasses like another laser refractive surgery. Typically, LASIK is a pain-free procedure that needs about fifteen minutes to treat both eyes. There is immediate vision improvement that tends to stabilize within 24 hours.
What is SMILE eye surgery?
Now that you know what is Lasik eye surgery let’s tell you about SMILE (Small Incision Lenticule Extraction). A femtosecond laser is used in surgery to make small lenticules in the cornea. After creating the lenticule, a tiny incision is made using the femtosecond laser. Next, the surgeon extracts the lenticule through the incision. The lenticular extraction changes the corneal shape, which also helps in achieving the desired refractive alterations in the eyes.
Since now you know what is a Lasik eye surgery and what SMILE surgery entails, you can understand that the latter is a minimally invasive process. In this case, a minute incision of about three mm is made. It ensures faster treatment and healing, with infrequent complications arising from the surgery.
The cost of SMILE surgery is slightly more than LASIK, though it can be assumed that the price will come down gradually as SMILE becomes more common and known among people.
What is a Lasik eye surgery, and is it better than SMILE?
LASIK takes less time than SMILE for recovery. Also, LASIK can treat astigmatism, farsightedness (hyperopia), and nearsightedness (myopia), while SMILE is yet to be completely effective in the first two cases. However, SMILE comes with many benefits that make it better than LASIK in many ways and justifies why it costs more than the latter.
SMILE is a less invasive procedure that offers a clearer vision for a longer-term than LASIK. And that’s the reason behind its increasing demand among people considering corrective eye surgery.
However, in any case, your eye surgeon is the best judge of which eye surgery is the right choice for you. So, talk to a specialist and discuss the pros and cons before deciding anything.
