SMILE Laser Surgery

Small incision lenticule extraction, a flapless laser correction

Overview

SMILE, small incision lenticule extraction, is a laser vision correction procedure in which a femtosecond laser creates a thin lens shaped disc of tissue, a lenticule, inside the cornea, which the surgeon then removes through a small incision. Removing the lenticule changes the curvature of the cornea and corrects myopia and astigmatism. Because no corneal flap is created, as in LASIK, the procedure disturbs fewer corneal nerves, and the incision is much smaller. It was developed by Carl Zeiss Meditec and came into clinical use in the early 2010s. Candidacy depends on corneal thickness, shape, and prescription stability.