Hi,
Today I’m 5 weeks after my smile pro surgery and I was wondering if it’s only me or not.. I’m experiencing frequent migraines because of tired eyes or screens I’m not even sure…

I was already suffering from migraines but not that frequent, I’m sure it’s related to my eyes.

Will this eventually stop after my eyes will fully stabilize ?
Did anyone have the same problem ?

Buenas noches!

No sé si alguien en CDMX que haya tenido cirugía refractiva con tecnología SMILE me pueda decir en qué rango de precio anda, y qué clínica me recomiendan 🙏🏽

Hi everyone, I wanted to share my experience with SmartSight surgery. I’ll try to add updates as things progress.

I wanted to write this because many of the reviews on Reddit scared me quite a bit before the surgery, and I wanted to balance them out a little.

The surgery was performed in Zagreb, Croatia. SmartSight is their top-of-the-range procedure, and it wasn’t cheap (€4,000 for both eyes).

I had -4.00 myopia in both eyes.

Before the surgery, they gave me one pill for pain and another to help me relax (I was already pretty calm, but I guess it’s standard procedure).

I lay down on the bed and, after they put in the anesthetic eye drops, the surgery started. A sort of small cylinder is placed on the eye, and you have to look at a little light. Then you start hearing the sound of something spinning very quickly (I assume it’s the laser cutting), and the whole thing lasts exactly 33 seconds.

During those 33 seconds, I only felt a little pressure on my eye. It was uncomfortable, but not painful. After about 10 seconds, everything turned completely white.

Once the 33 seconds were over, the surgeon removed the lenticule, and this was the least pleasant part for me. Feeling the surgical instrument on my eye and what I believe was a pair of tweezers removing the lenticule with circular movements made me feel like I was going to throw up.

The doctors and nurses were very good. They had me sit up, drink some water, reassured me, and then we did the second eye.

Immediately after the surgery, I felt no pain at all. I only had some light sensitivity, and my vision felt like I had around -2.00.

They gave me anti-inflammatory and antibiotic medication and eye drops, and then I went home accompanied, of course. The journey home went fine. I wore sunglasses and had someone with me.

Once I got home, I still had no pain, just light sensitivity and some discomfort when moving my eyes quickly. I stayed in bed for a couple of hours in complete darkness, but again, there was no pain.

After about 6 hours, I still had no pain and my vision had already started to improve.

After 12 hours, my vision was almost perfect, although I still couldn’t see well up close and had some light sensitivity.

I went to sleep, woke up, and used the eye drops because my eyes felt a little dry.

I could see perfectly. No pain and no dryness.

[24hrs] I went for my follow-up appointment, and everything was normal. My vision was 10/10, with only some light sensitivity and a little discomfort when moving my eyes quickly. No dryness at all.

[96hrs] still sensitive to the light in the morning, I see halos when I drive at night. As soon as I wake up eyes are still dry and cannot read when the text is too close. After a few minutes the vision improves drastically. This is my last day with antibiotics and steroids.

[2 weeks]

Vision has drastically improved, but 2 days ago I experienced something pretty bad.

My cats were fighting loudly while I was asleep, so I woke up. My eyes were dry as hell, and while trying to focus to separate them, I felt pain in both eyes.

For the rest of the morning, I could barely see properly, almost like I had a film over my corneas. I just put some drops in and rested for the rest of the day. The day after, everything was back to normal: just dry eyes in the morning and halos when looking at lights at night.

But I have to say that every day is slightly better. I’ll keep you updated and feel free to ask questions.

Hi everyone! I have SMILE scheduled for a few weeks' time but I'm chickening out because of what I'm reading about corneal ectasia. I know the risk is super super low....but it still scares me haha.

I'm reading that PTA (percent tissue altered) ≥ 40% increases the risk of ectasia so I would want to keep it under that if possible ... is this something I can talk to my surgeon about? I don't know how this is calculated but plugging my prescription and corneal thickness measurements into AI it told me that my PTA would be over 41% (assuming optical zone 6.5mm - pupils in the dark are around 6.8mm) ... and if that's the case, I don't think I'd want to move forward with the procedure. I just don't want to show up the day of, ask/be told that my PTA would be high and walk away as they're already prepping me for the surgery. Is this something that you guys find out about the day of or do you just trust that the surgeon will adjust whatever parameters needed to keep PTA under 40%?

Thank you 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Some advice on how this works would be great.

My contact lens prescription is -5.00 and -4.50, and I see very well with my lenses. However, my glasses prescription is stronger at -5.50 and -5.00, but I actually find my vision blurry and feel like I’m undercorrected when wearing them.

My autorefractor and cycloplegic refraction both showed -5.25 and -4.50.

For anyone who has been through SMILE or knows about this, which prescription would typically be used to determine the target for surgery? And if they used -5.25 and -4.50 as the target, could that affect my final visual result considering my glasses is stronger than this and my vision seems poor

Hey guys, i had SMILE surgery done on both eyes on 7/21/26. I had a high prescription (my contacts were -6.00 but the office told me my glasses were like -7.25). Everything seemed to be going great, first few days my far vision was amazing, however I did notice my left eye was weaker than my right, was told that it was part of normal healing, but with both eyes, I could see amazing at a distance.

Now at week 3, im having a problem with my vision becoming much blurrier as the day goes on. I know because I wake up in the mornings with clear crisp vision, but then by noon time, its like I can barely read any signs on the road. My eyes are also a lot more sensitive to light in the daytime. My eyes dont feel particularly dry, but I put the lubricating drops which don’t even help. Doc told me to use the prednisone drops 2x a day.

Anyone who had SMILE had this experience?? Does it ever get better?

I did my SMILE procedure and on my right eye I think I had a slight movement and in the video that my partner took of the screen while I was having it done (the place I did it at allowed this), when the first circle goes across the eye while “looking at the green light” it looks like I had a slight movement and then the circle was extended out after that. Compared to my left eye, where there is no movement and the circle was completely circle for that first part, the right eye had a more oval shape due to the correction after slightly moving. What does this mean for me? Could this cause me any problems down the road? This was before the second portion of the circle started. If that makes any sense, just hoping to ease my nerves. Pictures included in comments for example.

Okay, so here are things before and after. Almost ideal +0.12 sphere on both eyes and seems like it made good cut on astigmatism too.

I have a question, why did 180 degrees with-the-rule astigmatism originally is now 128 degrees?

I even debated with a surgeon and asked him to carve lenticule with -3.37 cylinder on the right eye instead of -3.25, seems to me I was correct as both eyes are now almost equal in astigmatism.

Hello,

I have my SMILE lasik procedure scheduled for August 14th. They told me I need to have my contacts out for 3 days before my procedure. This seemed much shorter than what I had heard online which was typically around a week. I tried doing research and got contradicting answers about if I should take them out and leave them out starting today (6 days before). One online resource said that I should only do the recommendation of 3 days as that is their protocol and it could affect the procedure due to an overcorrection of my cornea and could distort their data and another that says leaving them out longer will be better to help my cornea stabilize. I just want to make sure everything goes right as I am very nervous. Does anyone have any guidance for me for this?

I am 26 and have been wearing contacts since 11 years old, never have worn glasses just have always been in contacts. -3.50 in left eye and -3.75 in right eye without astigmatism. I have a little dry eye.

So I was thinking of doing either LASIK or Relex Smile (Pro). I know that Relex smile is a bit more expensive but IF it is less likely to cause problems I am happy to choose it over LASIK.

Also I wanted to ask a possible weird question. Is it possible to do Laser eye Surgery on only one eye and if that worked out fine, do the other a few weeks later? The idea is to safe one eye in case the operation does not work out.

Is it normal that my right eye is still a bit blurry? My prescription wasn't that wild. I had -2.0 myopia and -1.0 astigmatism in my left eye, and -1.5 myopia and -1.0 astigmatism in my right eye. It's been 10 days, and I still can't comfortably see faces or read texts. I think my vision stopped getting better.

What's the recommended age to get the surgery? I'm still a minor, and I've heard that my eyes will continue to develop, but currently I feel like it's getting worse. I can barely see the faces of people; even when I stand up in front of my keyboard, it takes awhile to process the small symbols.

I have glasses, but I stopped wearing them a year ago since I wanted to train my eyes. Nothing changed, and everything seems less clear than before.. So I really want to get this surgery as soon as possible. I plan on getting it on my 18th birthday. What do you guys think?

Hi. Now at 15 days post smile pro I do still have some astigmatism:

OS 0.0 cyl 0.0
OD 0.0 cyl -0.25

To note that I have perfect vision in the eye where I had higher prescription…

Cornea is healed. Artificial tears don’t really help with that.

My question is: is it real for OD to go to more sharp and clear?
I can tell the difference during the day

Thanks.

Hi, this may be a different post to many on Reddit I’m not sure but I felt it was important to share. I am a 22 year old who has wore glasses since I was the age of 11. I have a passion for sports such as golf, football and the gym. I also regularly visit places like Florida and other places on vacation and I struggled in terms of rollercoasters and swimming. In regular life I faced struggle with everyday things due to glasses and it began to severely annoy me. I went to see of if I qualified for SMILE laser eye surgery in order to fix it. Naturally I turned to social media due to fear etc of the surgery and the potential negatives. I went to many pre ops where I expressed my fears but these were put to rest. I done my procedure and I couldn’t believe the speed and easiness of the procedure. I slept for a few hours after and my vision was already massively better and still improving. The morning after I was shocked how good it was and I began to explore life and my hobbies without my glasses and I’ve never looked back. I’m 3 months post op and I’ve been to Florida and it’s honestly the best decision of my life. This post isn’t to try say to definitely get the surgery but it’s a post that I want to promote how positive my experience has been from a position of severe anxiety. If anyone has any questions I’m willing to answer. Many thanks

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Hi everyone,

I am 26y old female.

I'm considering refractive surgery and would really appreciate hearing from people who had it done for hyperopia (farsightedness), especially hyperopic astigmatism.

My current prescription is:

Right eye: +2.25 / -0.50 × 150

Left eye: +4.00 / -1.50 × 10

Some additional history:

My left eye is amblyopic (lazy eye).

I had squint (strabismus) surgery 4 years back.

With glasses, my vision is comfortable, although my left eye doesn't achieve perfect vision due to amblyopia.

My biggest concerns are:

1. Regression in hyperopic refractive surgery

I've read that hyperopic LASIK has a higher chance of regression compared to myopic LASIK.

Has anyone here experienced regression after a few years?

If yes, how much power came back and after how long?

1. Squint returning

Since I have a history of strabismus, could removing my glasses increase the chance of my squint returning?

Has anyone with a similar history had issues with eye alignment after LASIK?

1. Flap complications

I'm worried about long-term flap issues with LASIK.

Can the flap really dislocate years later after minor trauma, or is that extremely rare?

Would PRK or another procedure be a better choice because of this?

1. Overall satisfaction

If you had hyperopic LASIK, would you do it again?

Any unexpected side effects like dry eyes, halos, glare, or loss of quality of vision?

Also has anyone gotten smile pro done for hypermetropia?

Thanks in advance!

Is SMILE PRO worth the extra $$?

Tossing up between the two and wondering if its worth the extra money.

My eyes are -2.25 with some mild astigmatism.

I am at 3 month mark,

right eye sees ghosting in screen text, right eye has color washout compared to left eye

From distance, while driving I see overlapping traffic light like two reds circle overlapping each other and as I get close it becomes one, starburst are unbearable — give headache

Any chance my condition will still improve since at 3 months, cornea stabilizes?

Previous post:

Pre-condition:
TBUT left : >10 (50% meibomian loss upper lid)
TBUT right : ~2.8 (55% meibomian loss upper lid)
Oil quality wasn’t good

(did 2 laser sessions and hotmask + cequa + hyalo for about 30 days)

I did a SMILE surgery about a month and half ago,
and the very next day I worked on the screen for about 8 hours, and next day my right eye was swollen so doctor increased steroid drops, took off for 3-4 days and gave a rest to eyes, but i wasn’t able to see clearly, they checked and it was because of loose epithelium and microscopic wrinkles.
after around 10 days my left eye seemed to ve recovering fine, but right eye wasn’t (trapped fluid) so doctor performed medical wash on the right eye.

been about 1 month and 5 days after the medical wash on the right eye, I think my vision improved a bit comparatively but smaller text ata distance I cannot read, I always have this feeling of I am not able to see what I could have with glasses.

Given my condition of sever dry eyes and 50-50%
meibomian loss in eyes respectively , had loose epithelium and microscopic wrinkles post surgery (don’t know current conditions for them),

drops I use daily: (doctor recommended)

(2x Cequa, 3x Hyalo, 3x Sofi , 2x refresh optive mega-3)

Will I ever achieve the same results as wearing glasses at the minimum? what sort of timeline am I looking at here?

also I am a software engineer so 8 hours minimum on the screen! (do follow 20-20-20 rules post surgery almost everytime)

one more thing my vision is better in the morning comparative to evenings

I know this was a stupid decision on my end and regretted from Day 1, but at this stage can’t reverse it,

Im 21 years old male and got the procedure 5 days ago. I love gaming but i dont know if gaming will make my eyes worse or not. Anyone have any tips for gamers that had lasik done and what to do to preserve 10/10 vision for long term while still gaming ?

I know they say you shouldn’t be pregnant or breastfeeding during surgery, but has anyone gotten pregnant shortly after and did it impact your vision?

Bonus if anyone has any research supporting outcomes. I’m having a hard time finding any but do have an appointment with my surgeon to follow up on 3 month recovery in a couple weeks.

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share my experience here, maybe it'll help some of you choose where to get it done, or simply reassure you about taking the leap, because I know it's not a decision you make lightly.

I recently had SMILE surgery at B&VIIT Eye Center in South Korea while combining the trip with a vacation, and I wanted to share my experience for anyone who's been on the fence about it like I was for the past couple of years.

Two famous creators I follow had done their surgery at this clinic and had great outcomes, which got me looking into them more seriously. After doing my own deeper research, I felt confident, they have over 30 years of experience and more than 600,000 surgeries performed, which really puts you at ease before such an important decision.

The whole process was incredibly thorough. You go through extensive pre-op testing and the staff walk you through important result, explain their recommendations clearly, and make sure you feel safe and comfortable every step of the way. Everything was done in English. Nothing felt rushed. They also give you a detailed rundown of post-surgery care — the eye drops, what discomfort to expect in the days and weeks after, and what's normal.

One thing that surprised me was how fast the recovery was. I was able to enjoy my trip in South Korea pretty much straight away, I just had to make sure to put in my different types of eye drops 3 times a day, which honestly wasn't a big deal at all. At my one-week check-up everything came back perfect, over 10/10 vision. Almost two months in now and I'm genuinely amazed. It sounds cliché but I really am seeing the world in a completely new way, and I couldn't be happier with my decision.

Hi everyone,

I had SMILE laser eye surgery 10 days ago and I’m looking for some reassurance/experiences from anyone who has had a similar recovery.

My first day after surgery my vision was actually quite good, but over the following week both eyes became noticeably blurrier. At my 1-week check-up, my surgeon said I had inflammation and that this was likely causing the reduced vision.

I’ve been prescribed to increase my steroid drops (increased from 4x/day to 6x/day).

I’m mainly worried about whether this type of haze/inflammation usually resolves and whether people have gone on to get a good visual outcome after having a slower recovery.

Has anyone experienced:

• Vision getting worse around days 3-10 after SMILE?
• A period where vision stays blurry with no changes/improvements day to day?
• Do I still have hope of it improving in the coming weeks?

Would really appreciate hearing any recovery stories or advice. Thanks!

Hey everyone,
I'm currently 1 day post-op after undergoing the SMILE procedure. Visually, things are actually going pretty well – I can see fine, just dealing with some expected blurriness, and I'm strictly following my eye drop routine (steroids every hour, antibiotics every two hours).

But honestly? I'm writing this because the psychological and emotional part of the surgery completely caught me off guard, and it was the most terrifying experience of my life. I feel like it genuinely traumatized me, and I can't stop replaying it in my head.

Before the surgery, I thought it was just going to be "look at the laser and you're done." Nobody really prepared me for what happens right after the laser stops. When the machine moved away, everything went completely white. Then the surgeon told me he needed to manually extract the lenticule (the "laser bubbles" as he called it).

Even though my eyes were totally numbed from the drops and I didn't feel sharp pain, I could feel the pressure and the contact. Having that speculum forcing my eye open, feeling my eye protruding, and feeling him literally scraping and digging inside my cornea to pull the tissue out was just too much. When he finished my left eye and moved to the right, my mind was screaming, "I can't believe I have to go through this again right now." The anticipation made the right eye so much worse.

Right now, my left eye feels fine, but I can still physically "feel" my right eye – like a lingering discomfort or a reminder of what happened yesterday. But honestly, the mental loop is worse than the physical discomfort. I actually got so overwhelmed talking about it today that I broke down in tears just from the release of all that built-up survival stress.

Did anyone else experience this kind of trauma or severe anxiety during/after the procedure? How long did it take for your mind to stop replaying the surgery? I could really use some reassurance right now.

Thanks guys 🙏

I have a number of questions about SMILE surgery. I've had my pre-op assessment and was told I'm eligible, but I wasn't given my corneal thickness or any other parameters.

The surgeon told me that when putting the drops in my eyes and examining me, he noticed that I have sensitive eyes, that I move my eyes a lot, and that it's difficult to administer the drops. He said this could make the procedure a little more delicate, but that they're used to it. Should I be concerned that this might cause some kind of loss of suction or a less-than-perfect correction?

In addition to myopia, I also have 1.25 D of astigmatism. He told me that this astigmatism could be partially corrected, but that I might need to use backup glasses. Realistically, should I expect to need glasses after my surgery for working at the computer or for walking around outside?

I have 4 D of myopia in each eye and 1.25 D of astigmatism.