Laser vision correction surgery is a common surgery amongst Singaporeans nowadays. Why is that? Because it’s convenient to have good vision without wearing glasses or contact lens. You get to show your natural face without worrying about how the frames will fit your facial features, or how your lens will change the way your eyes are supposed to look. It feels great to be able to read and see without having to use or wear any other tools beside your natural eyes. This is most likely the reason why a lot of your friends, families, people around you and people out there are opting for an eye refractive surgery. A kind of vision correction surgery that is rising in popularity in Singapore is ReLEx® SMILE. Many people are interested with ReLEx® SMILE as the technology is newer and more importantly, ReLEx® SMILE claims to be able to harness the main advantages of LASIK and Advanced Surface Ablation procedure, which are fast recovery and zero flap complications. If you’re curious to find out more, let’s dig deeper.
What is ReLEx® SMILE surgery?
ReLEx® SMILE stands for Refractive Lenticule Extraction Small Incision Lenticule Extraction. What a long name! Thankfully, you don’t have to memorize all of this and simply know that ReLEx® SMILE is a type or vision correction surgery that uses a no-blade and no-flap approach. In a ReLEx® SMILE surgery, your surgeon will create a lenticule from your cornea using the femtosecond laser.Once the lenticule is created, it has to be extracted from your cornea. Therefore, there will be a smallincision at the side of your eye that needs to be made to extract the lenticule. The goal is that by removing this lenticule, the space inside your cornea will collapse, changing how the light bends when it enters your eyes, so that the light rays falls directly on your retina, correcting your vision.
Is ReLEx® SMILE better than LASIK?
In some ways. ReLEx® SMILE has its own advantages compared to LASIK surgery. The biggest advantage of ReLEx® SMILEcompared to the conventional LASIK wouldbethatReLEx® SMILE patients do not need to worryabout the risk of flap relatedcomplications. With no risk of flap related complications, ReLEx® SMILE patients are able to enjoy an active lifestyle after their surgery. LASIK surgery is not very suitable for active people because LASIK surgery creates a flap in the cornea that might be injured by a heavy physical impact.
ReLEx® SMILE surgery uses a no-flap approach, so there is no risk of corneal flap dislodgement. Other than that, ReLEx® SMILE has a fast recoverytoo, ReLEx® SMILEpatients can see significant improvements to their vision in a few days after a ReLEx® SMILE surgery. However, the advantage that LASIK has over ReLEx® SMILE is how it can also treat farsightedness, not just nearsightedness and astigmatism. A ReLEx® SMILE cannot treat farsightedness. This means that if you are wanting to get a vision correction surgery because you have farsightedness, LASIK or ASA procedures such as TransPRKwould be a better surgery choice for you. If you are interested to find out more about ReLEx® SMILE surgery, you can also read about Most Frequently Asked Questions on ReLEx® SMILE in Singapore.
