If you do not like to wear glasses or you are tired of contact lenses, then laser eye surgery is the right option for you.
The principle of laser surgical procedures is to reshape or polish the cornea – the first lens of the eye through which light enters. This remodeling corrects the focus of light on the retina and eliminates the need to wear glasses or contact lenses. Basically, the laser ‘cuts’ the diopters’ equivalent to the glasses from the thickness of the lens of the eye, the cornea.
ReLEx SMILE (initials from Small Incision Lenticule Extraction) is currently at the forefront of laser correction of myopia and myopic astigmatism. It is the newest generation of corneal diopter reduction methods and is made with a single laser, the Femtosecond one.
It is considered a minimally invasive procedure, with high accuracy and the fastest execution. The SMILE procedure is performed in a single stage, without flap (Femto LASIK cap), so with the least possible intervention on the cornea. Using the latest generation Visumax laser, Carl Zeiss Meditec, a “refractive lens” is cut into the thickness of the cornea, having a specific shape, corresponding to the correction of myopia or myopic astigmatism of the patient. Subsequently, the laser makes an incision of about 2-4 mm through which the surgeon separates and removes the lenticule. Basically, it is a technique that uses a single “all-femto” laser, and the duration is about 25 seconds regardless of the diopter value.
FemtoLASIK is the second generation, the most widespread and most widely used laser surgical procedure to correct vision problems. It is a precise, fast and painless procedure. It is made with 2 different types of high-performance lasers – one cuts a corneal cap that is raised and the second grinds the cornea under this cap which is then put back. The advantages of this procedure are: postoperative comfort and fast healing.
PRK is the first generation of refractive surgery in which the laser directly grinds the cornea to the surface. It is used in people with low myopia, thin cornea or other special indications.
Over the last 40 years, tens of millions of laser diopter reduction procedures have been performed worldwide, with exceptional results, making these procedures among the safest in modern surgery.
The ReLEx SMILE procedure corrects:
Depending on preoperative assessments, using FemtoLASIK procedure we can correct diopters as follows:
The PRK technique can correct:
ReLEx SMILE is the latest generation procedure, the least invasive of all. Thus the outer layer of the cornea keeps intact the collagen fibers and nerve threads that would otherwise be sectioned by the flap. It will result in a better resistance of the cornea in case of trauma, preservation of nervous sensitivity, a quality tear film (prevention of dry eyes) and a much faster recovery.
FemtoLASIK is the most used procedure due to the larger correction range on which it can be operated, as well as the postoperative comfort and fast healing. The procedure is painless both during and after the operation.
PRK eye surgery is a procedure used especially in the case of low myopia or thin cornea that does not allow the cutting of the FemtoLASIK cap. The procedure is painless during the operation but the healing takes longer and patients may feel pain in the first days, for which treatment is prescribed.
Regardless of the technique (prk eye surgery, lasik cataract surgery or ReLEx Smile), the procedure takes 5-7 minutes for each eye (of which the laser action is less than 1 minute) and is performed with local anesthesia, without hospitalization. Basically, you can expect the time spent in the clinic to be about 2 hours, which includes all the stages – from preparation, the actual procedure and learning how to take care of your eyes at home, in the healing stage.
The whole operation is painless and you will be installed very comfortably on a fully automatic bed. You will need to focus your vision on a bright spot, not talk and not move. You will be awake and the doctor will constantly explain to you what he is doing and what to expect.
After the surgery, the result is spectacular, obvious immediately after the procedure. The visual acuity will continue to improve day by day.
In a few hours after the SMILE procedure, the vision improves significantly. From the next day, you can return to your usual activities (working on the computer, watching TV, driving) and in a few days you can put on make-up, swim in the pool or do sports.
After FemtoLASIK cataract surgery, you can notice a significant improvement of vision in the first postoperative day with rapid progression in the following days.
Recovery after PRK eye surgery is slower than in the case of FemtoLASIK in both visual acuity and healing.
In some cases or if the corrected diopters were of high value, it may take several weeks or months for complete healing. It is important to follow the doctor’s instructions, in terms of treatment and schedule of postoperative checks, as the healing process and the outcome of the operation can be greatly influenced by postoperative behavior.
At Clario we use the most advanced refractive surgery lasers in the world, produced by Carl Zeiss Meditech: the Zeiss Visumax femtolaser and the Zeiss Mel 80 excimer laser. We enjoy an excellent collaboration with Zeiss engineers who permanently ensure perfect working conditions for our equipment.
<- This is the Clario operating room, which opened in March 2020
Depending on the technique, the costs of the operation are:
Find out in 2 minutes if the laser diopter reduction operation suits you by taking the online test below!
We are waiting for you to complete the evaluation in which the doctor will give you all the explanations about laser eye surgery.
This is the new room inaugurated in March 2020, intended for refractive surgery and cataract surgery.
The refractive surgery area is equipped with a Zeis combine: the Zeiss Visumax femtolaser and the Zeiss Mel 80 excimer laser, devices considered to be the best in the world today.
Cataract surgery is done on an American Alcon Centurion phacoemusifier and a Zeiss Lumera 300 operating microscope, both of the latest generation. The surgical table comes from Brumaba, a leader in comfort and reliability.
