Surgeon recommends SMILE for all patients who are candidates
NEW ORLEANS — John F. Doane, MD, offered SMILE pearls for new surgeons during a presentation at Refractive Surgery Subspecialty Day at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.
According to Doane, more than 5 million SMILE procedures have been conducted worldwide.
“Knowing what I know today, I would recommend SMILE for all those patients that are candidates,” Doane, who has 11 years of SMILE experience, said.
The benefits of SMILE include the lack of a flap, sound, smell or pain, Doane said. In addition, he said that more than 700 peer-reviewed articles related to SMILE suggest that SMILE offers better biomechanical strength and less dry eye.
Doane listed five SMILE-related pearls that may be of use for new surgeons:
Take advantage of the clinical application specialist.
Practice due diligence.
Optimize spot and track spacing and energy per spot.
Keep in mind that if a patient is a LASIK candidate, they are also a SMILE candidate for the approved range of 1 D to 10 D of myopia and up to 3 D of astigmatism.
Start with cases between 4 D to 10 D that have thicker lenticules.
“The refractive predictability of sphere and astigmatism is excellent with SMILE, and the enhancement rate certainly appears to be lower with SMILE than LASIK in a surgeon’s hands,” Doane said.
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Doane JF. Small incision lenticule extraction 2021 update: US and world experience. Presented at: American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting; Nov. 12-15, 2021; New Orleans.
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