Difference between SMILE Eye Surgery and LASIK Eye Surgery

Tired of wearing contacts? Or you don’t want to carry a nerdy look with glasses anymore? The best solution for it is to go for laser eye surgery and experience the new you. 

With the growing advancement in medical technology, LASIK Eye Surgery and SMILE Eye Surgery are the two best solutions to say goodbye to glasses and contacts. Both the surgeries are effective, trusted and safe for correcting the vision, but choosing the right surgery out of the two, for a sharp vision is a little tricky task to do.

Now, a lot of questions must have crossed your mind, such as, what is the difference between SMILE Eye Surgery and LASIK Eye Surgery? Which surgery is best for your vision? How much time will the surgery take? How much time is required in recovering after surgery? How to know which surgery to go for? What are the precautions? And so on.

Take a deep breath and relax. We will through light on all your questions in this blog and give you the insights of SMILE Eye Surgery and LASIK Eye Surgery. 

What is LASIK Eye Surgery?

Blade-free LASIK Eye Surgery came into existence years ago which concentrated on shaping the cornea by removing the corneal tissue.

LASIK Eye Surgery is the most common laser eye surgery, which is commonly used in today’s time. A majority of patients are familiar with the term LASIK eye surgery.

A small corneal tissue flap is created during the LASIK Eye Surgery, using a femtosecond laser that reshapes the cornea and corrects your vision while removing spectacles and contact lenses resulting in a sharper and a clear vision.

Who should go for LASIK Eye Surgery?

Patients having mild to moderate nearsightedness known as myopia, farsightedness known as hyperopia, and astigmatism, are advised to go for LASIK eye surgery for vision correction. 

If a patient has a thick cornea, LASIK Eye Surgery is the best option to get a corrective and a sharp vision.  

LASIK Eye Surgery requires the creation of a corneal flap during the procedure, patients having thin or irregular cornea are not advised to go for LASIK. 

If a patient is suffering from an issue of chronic dry eye or has some symptoms of it, SMILE Eye Surgery is a better option in that case. LASIK is known to run a risk for dry eye symptoms and can increase the previously held dry eye condition, resulting in further complications.

The downside of LASIK Eye Surgery

LASIK is an extremely effective, safe, and trusted eye surgery, which is opted by many patients to get a perfect vision. It only has one downside, which is its complex procedure during surgery, as it uses two lasers and creates a corneal flap to correct the shape of the cornea, which can lead to flap-related complications post-surgery in some cases. Even though Flap-related complications are rare and are healed with the consultation of an expert eye care professional.

How much time does LASIK Eye Surgery take to recover?

Patients heal quite quickly after LASIK Eye Surgery. Post-surgery majority of patients get back to their daily work schedules from the next day of the surgery.

Your vision will stabilize within a few days to a few weeks post-surgery and you can experience a perfect vision without the use of any glasses and contacts.

Now, after having a brief about the most commonly used LASIK Eye Surgery, let’s move on to a more advanced version of Laser eye surgery which is known as SMILE Eye Surgery.

What is SMILE Eye Surgery?

SMILE Eye Surgery is a kind of laser surgery that is used to treat eyes having some vision errors. Smile Eye Surgery is recommended to patients who are suffering from myopia. 

The excimer laser is not used in SMILE Eye Surgery unlike LASIK, a femtosecond laser is used to cut a tiny keyhole incision in a patient’s cornea to remove a small piece of corneal tissue while reshaping the cornea and improving your vision.  The SMILE eye surgery is quiet, odorless and blade-free & there is no risk for flap complications post-surgery as flap creation is not required in SMILE Eye Surgery.

Who should go for SMILE Eye Surgery?

SMILE Eye Surgery is used to treat patients having low to moderate levels of nearsightedness known as myopia. If you are facing any other issue than myopia, SMILE is not the right option for you.

If a patient has a thin cornea, SMILE Eye Surgery is the best option to get a corrective and a perfect vision.  

No flap is created in SMILE Eye Surgery, unlike LASIK Eye Surgery, allowing the outer corneal layer to remain intact. It is pieces of advice to the patients having thin or irregular cornea to opt for SMILE Eye Surgery for vision correction.

If a person is suffering from chronic dry eye SMILE is a better option for laser surgery. 

The downside of SMILE Eye Surgery

SMILE Eye surgery is the latest advancement in laser surgery and is a blade-free, odorless and quiet procedure. Even it consists of one drawback. It cannot treat any other symptom than myopia or nearsightedness. If we talk about treating farsightedness and astigmatism with SMILE Eye Surgery, the answer is no. Smile eye surgery can only treat a certain type of nearsightedness.

How much time does SMILE Eye Surgery take to recover?

Patients who have undergone SMILE Eye Surgery generally take a slightly longer time to heal, if compared to LASIK eye surgery. In LASIK Eye Surgery patient heals quite quickly post-surgery, whereas SMILE Eye Surgery takes about one to two days for a complete visual recovery. But it is safe, accurate and trustworthy just like LASIK Eye Surgery thereby providing greater comfort and high accuracy.

We have explained the core difference between the two laser surgeries. But selecting the right laser eye surgery as per your eye condition can only be determined by your laser eye surgeon. 

An eye examination and consultation of an expert eye care professional will help you identify your eye characteristics and the right laser eye surgery for vision correction.