Small incision lenticule extraction has been used in more than 3.5 million refractive surgery procedures globally, primarily for the treatment of myopia and astigmatism.
Developed by Carl Zeiss Meditec of Jena, Germany, SMILE was approved by the FDA in 2016 for the treatment of –1 D to –10 D of myopia with 0.75 D to 3 D of astigmatism. The procedure requires a very precise femtosecond laser, exemplified by the Zeiss VisuMax laser, and a skilled surgeon. More than 600 articles have been published in the peer-reviewed literature supporting the safety and efficacy of SMILE.
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