ReLEx SMILE can be used to treat short-sighted patients, and often those with very high prescriptions, drier eyes, contact lens intolerance, and / or thinner corneas.

The procedure was pioneered by Carl Zeiss Meditec, whom Professor Reinstein consults for. The revolutionary technique effectively turns Laser Eye Surgery into a keyhole procedure.

The ReLEx procedure: How it works

ReLEx SMILE (often known simply as SMILE, which stands for Small Incision Lenticule Extraction) is, by its less invasive nature, a method that allows correction of even higher myopic prescriptions than previously treatable by standard LASIK Laser Eye Surgery.

During the procedure, eye anaesthetic drops are used to completely numb the eye, and the state-of-the-art Carl Zeiss VisuMax laser places a series of precise pulses in the centre of the cornea with extraordinary 3D placement accuracy. These pulses form bubbles that are less than 1/100th the width of a human hair, and which outline the tissue that needs to be removed to effectively change the shape of the cornea.

The laser then creates a tiny connecting tunnel through which the surgeon draws out this tissue.

With ReLEx SMILE, no flap is created so the recovery from the sensation of dry eye is faster than for LASIK. The procedure also takes a matter of minutes and by the next morning patients experience vast improvement in the vision by the next morning.

No other laser platform has been able to match the accuracy of the Carl Zeiss VisuMax (which is accurate enough to inscribe a word on a grain of sand) in performing this keyhole type of Laser Eye Surgery.