Corneal refractive surgery for myopia is done by removing some of the corneal stroma in order to flatten the central curvature to reduce the corneal power. This can be done using an excimer laser, such as with LASIK or PRK, where the corneal stroma is ablated micron by micron. And it can be done by using a femtosecond laser to create a thin lenticule of corneal stroma which is then removed. This latter procedure is called Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE) and it done with the Zeiss Visumax femtosecond laser. This video shows the technique of this surgery and offers some important pearls to ensure complete and smooth removal of the lenticule.
click to learn the refractive surgery technique of small incision lenticule extraction:
