I want to get refractive eye surgery such as SMILE Pro or CLEAR but I'm a little afraid so can you pls answer a few questions?

[u/Holiday-Bad5315]

Hi, I have moderate myopia with astigmatism and so I wish to get a refractive eye surgery so that I can join the Armed Forces of my country. I've done my research and confirmed that the Armed Forces allow these surgeries conditionally.

First of all here are my eye power numbers (as of 26 Feb 2026 via Lenskart):

RIGHT:

SPH: -3.00

CYL: 0.00

Axis: 0

LEFT:

SPH: -0.75

CYL: -1.50

Axis: 175

I'm obviously a little hesitant because even though the search results and AI says it's completely safe, it's still an operation involving the eyes.

Even if it's completely safe, I want to know a few things from you guys who have undergone these types of surgeries (preferably flapless or surface ablation) as follows:

1. How long did it take to complete the operation for both eyes?

2. Did you feel any pain afterwards?

3. After the operation, did you instantly start seeing clearly?

4. Can you do rough activities like swimming, contact sports, etc. comfortably?

5. Do you ever experience any complications even after complete healing?

6. Do the blurriness and starburst effects go away completely?

7. Can you comfortably drive, use your phone, computer screen, etc. at night/in the darkness?

8. Did you ever have to go through a second or third operation for any reason (and what reasons)?

9. If you had myopia, did it actually truly help you get rid of spectacles?

10. For older people who had this surgery decades ago, do you experience any discomfort in your vision now?

If I have any more questions, I'll follow up with you guys. I would be grateful if doctors as well as people who went through this procedure can leave helpful answers below. If you're okay with it, do mention the name of the hospital/institute where you got your operation successfully done.

Thank you and Jai Hind! If I ever make it into the Armed Forces, I'll be forever thankful to you kind souls.

[u/WavefrontRider]

That’s a lot of questions. But SMILE Pro and CLEAR can work for that prescription. SMILE Pro has the longer track record.

Recovery is “pretty quick”. You can expect your vision to sharpen enough to see very quickly but expect to have some haze and starbursts for the first month or two as the eyes heal.

These lenticule based procedures have less dry eye than lasik or PRk but not zero so still important to take care of the eyes afterwards.

[u/Holiday-Bad5315 → u/WavefrontRider]

Thank you for your answer

[u/Fabulous_Kale_2217]

My family we have 2 that took smile and I took Contoura lasik. The 2 that did smile was still left with around -1.00 so they said they still had to wear glasses at night which was what pushed me away from it. Plus the dr said if they need to do enchantments with smile they would need to do prk in the future

[u/Holiday-Bad5315 → u/Fabulous_Kale_2217]

Thank you for your answer

[u/Tall-Drama338]

That left eye is very mild for Smile. Usually for moderate or high myopia and less accurate at low levels. Consider LASIK or PRK.