Just the latest in laser eye surgery...
Discussion
I recently had a procedure called Relex Smile to cure my mild myopia, it is the 3rd and latest generation of laser eye surgery and is supposed to make the traditional LASIK procedure redundant (plenty of videos on youtube).
I know the topic of laser eye surgery comes up here often so I thought I'd post my experience and update it frequently if people are interested, given there are not many user reports out there.
There are only a handful of clinics in the UK which have access to the necessary hardware and the technique is not currently approved in the US.
All of the traditional side effects typically associated with refractive surgery are drastically reduced these days and my surgeon advised me that due to my low refractive error there is practically zero chance of any side effects.
Video of the procedure is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L41-CqynUHE
Surgery day
The procedure is easy enough, you just lay there and let the machine/surgeon do the work. Honestly its nothing to worry about.
After getting up off the surgery bed my distance vision is immediately better although there is a thick foggy haze over everything.
You can feel some grittyness in the eyes as the anaesthetic wears off but its easily bearable.
You just want to close your eyes and rest, but after a few hours 95% of the haze has gone. At this point in theory I could probably safely drive but of course I just slept for the entire day as recommended.
Day 1 post op
I had a check up in the morning, eyes are physically healing well.
An acuity test reveals I have lost some vision, with glasses I was 20/15 and contact lenses 20/10. Now I am 20/20
Everything is very bright, in the same way you can turn up the brightness up on your TV, it's like everything is extra white and the colour is washed out.
I also have a lot of glare, although my distance vision is good everything is glowing slightly.
Starbursts and haloes are present on street lights and cars although I've yet to drive at night.
Although I can see up close and read black text off a white background on my phone, my near vision is worse and blurry. I don't know if I'm now far sighted or if its just the blurryness/haze that is making me struggle.
I'm struggling with contrast in low light situations, for example looking at the black pedals in my car against the black carpet they are almost invisible yet I see my white trainers perfectly.
Day 2 post op
Pretty much exactly the same as above, I can't tell any difference other than maybe slightly less gritty eyes.
Lack of 20/15 vision is pretty noticeable in every day life and more so while driving, this has pissed me off a little. I' hoping it returns as even my ophthalmologist agrees that 20/20 is pretty poor.
Drove at night for the first time, its do-able (safe) but annoying.
So this is where I am at at the moment.
I should point out though that I should not really worry about or judge my results until at least 3 months post op although obviously this is easier said than done!
Some of the reviews/blogs I have found have had similar experiences to myself and confirms it takes months for vision to stabilise.
There are of course some horror stories out there with this technology although not many.
If anyone is interested in future updates then let me know and I'll be happy to oblige.
I know the topic of laser eye surgery comes up here often so I thought I'd post my experience and update it frequently if people are interested, given there are not many user reports out there.
There are only a handful of clinics in the UK which have access to the necessary hardware and the technique is not currently approved in the US.
All of the traditional side effects typically associated with refractive surgery are drastically reduced these days and my surgeon advised me that due to my low refractive error there is practically zero chance of any side effects.
Video of the procedure is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L41-CqynUHE
Surgery day
The procedure is easy enough, you just lay there and let the machine/surgeon do the work. Honestly its nothing to worry about.
After getting up off the surgery bed my distance vision is immediately better although there is a thick foggy haze over everything.
You can feel some grittyness in the eyes as the anaesthetic wears off but its easily bearable.
You just want to close your eyes and rest, but after a few hours 95% of the haze has gone. At this point in theory I could probably safely drive but of course I just slept for the entire day as recommended.
Day 1 post op
I had a check up in the morning, eyes are physically healing well.
An acuity test reveals I have lost some vision, with glasses I was 20/15 and contact lenses 20/10. Now I am 20/20
Everything is very bright, in the same way you can turn up the brightness up on your TV, it's like everything is extra white and the colour is washed out.
I also have a lot of glare, although my distance vision is good everything is glowing slightly.
Starbursts and haloes are present on street lights and cars although I've yet to drive at night.
Although I can see up close and read black text off a white background on my phone, my near vision is worse and blurry. I don't know if I'm now far sighted or if its just the blurryness/haze that is making me struggle.
I'm struggling with contrast in low light situations, for example looking at the black pedals in my car against the black carpet they are almost invisible yet I see my white trainers perfectly.
Day 2 post op
Pretty much exactly the same as above, I can't tell any difference other than maybe slightly less gritty eyes.
Lack of 20/15 vision is pretty noticeable in every day life and more so while driving, this has pissed me off a little. I' hoping it returns as even my ophthalmologist agrees that 20/20 is pretty poor.
Drove at night for the first time, its do-able (safe) but annoying.
So this is where I am at at the moment.
I should point out though that I should not really worry about or judge my results until at least 3 months post op although obviously this is easier said than done!
Some of the reviews/blogs I have found have had similar experiences to myself and confirms it takes months for vision to stabilise.
There are of course some horror stories out there with this technology although not many.
If anyone is interested in future updates then let me know and I'll be happy to oblige.
Edited by Ollie123 on Saturday 19th September 20:39
whoami said:
What was your original prescription?
-1.50 in both eyes. 968 said:
Interesting to hear your perspective but it's not as revolutionary as you seem to think.
Oh and 20/20 isn't poor. It's actually very good vision.
Hi 968, I am glad you have shown up.Oh and 20/20 isn't poor. It's actually very good vision.
What do you think of my perspective so far, is it in keeping with your experience of refractive surgery?
Silly question maybe but is best corrected vision considered with contacts or glasses? At the moment I have lost some long distance vision which is annoying, but its not nearly as bad as my near distance which is now blurry.
I can't even read the time on the Windows computer and even the basic colours on the PH website lack sharpness, I've had to use the accessibility function to increase text size to 175% to see what I am typing.
I am back at work tomorrow and I need a computer to do my job. I am hoping it's just cornea edema/healing.
Edited by Ollie123 on Sunday 20th September 08:02
Ollie123 said:
Hi 968, I am glad you have shown up.
What do you think of my perspective so far, is it in keeping with your experience of refractive surgery?
Silly question maybe but is best corrected vision considered with contacts or glasses? At the moment I have lost some long distance vision which is annoying, but its not nearly as bad as my near distance which is now blurry.
I can't even read the time on the Windows computer and even the basic colours on the PH website lack sharpness, I've had to use the accessibility function to increase text size to 175% to see what I am typing.
I am back at work tomorrow and I need a computer to do my job. I am hoping it's just cornea edema/healing.
HiWhat do you think of my perspective so far, is it in keeping with your experience of refractive surgery?
Silly question maybe but is best corrected vision considered with contacts or glasses? At the moment I have lost some long distance vision which is annoying, but its not nearly as bad as my near distance which is now blurry.
I can't even read the time on the Windows computer and even the basic colours on the PH website lack sharpness, I've had to use the accessibility function to increase text size to 175% to see what I am typing.
I am back at work tomorrow and I need a computer to do my job. I am hoping it's just cornea edema/healing.
Edited by Ollie123 on Sunday 20th September 08:02
I'm quite sceptical about this particular type of refractive surgery. I think the jury is out a bit currently. Best corrected vision is with glasses or contacts but after this procedure your vision should be excellent without correction. With regards to your outcome it can take a few weeks to settle. How long has it been since your surgery and what's your age?
968 said:
Hi
I'm quite sceptical about this particular type of refractive surgery. I think the jury is out a bit currently. Best corrected vision is with glasses or contacts but after this procedure your vision should be excellent without correction. With regards to your outcome it can take a few weeks to settle. How long has it been since your surgery and what's your age?
I'm 28.I'm quite sceptical about this particular type of refractive surgery. I think the jury is out a bit currently. Best corrected vision is with glasses or contacts but after this procedure your vision should be excellent without correction. With regards to your outcome it can take a few weeks to settle. How long has it been since your surgery and what's your age?
Now post op day 4. Grittyness has now reduced if not gone, no dry eyes as such yet but I do find drops from time to time do provide some extra comfort. I also find the eye guards get pulled off my face in the night!
Glare/haze is still my main dislike, I can live with it for now but if its still there in 12 months I would consider the procedure a failure and would confidently say my quality of life has been significantly reduced.
Do you think loss of 1 line of acuity is acceptable, even if the result is 20/20? Maybe wavefront guided correction would have been better.
Without getting too much of a SMILE vs LASIK debat, why are you sceptical? Having read the findings of many tests (a lot of which are too complicated for a laymen like me), the conclusion always draws in favour of SMILE.
Edited by Ollie123 on Monday 21st September 21:39
Ollie123 said:
I'm 28.
Now post op day 4. Grittyness has now reduced if not gone, no dry eyes as such yet but I do find drops from time to time do provide some extra comfort. I also find the eye guards get pulled off my face in the night!
Glare/haze is still my main dislike, I can live with it for now but if its still there in 12 months I would consider the procedure a failure and would confidently say my quality of life has been significantly reduced.
Do you think loss of 1 line of acuity is acceptable, even if the result is 20/20? Maybe wavefront guided correction would have been better.
Without getting too much of a SMILE vs LASIK debat, why are you sceptical? Having read the findings of many tests (a lot of which are too complicated for a laymen like me), the conclusion always draws in favour of SMILE.
Day 4 is early days so don't expect too much. I'm sceptical about this procedure because there's no evidence it offers any benefit over LASIK. A good example is wavefront. It only makes a difference in retreatmrnts. In primary treatments it makes no difference which doesn't stop the companies marketing it heavily as a revolution, when it plainly is nothing of the sort. The same exists with Smile. Now post op day 4. Grittyness has now reduced if not gone, no dry eyes as such yet but I do find drops from time to time do provide some extra comfort. I also find the eye guards get pulled off my face in the night!
Glare/haze is still my main dislike, I can live with it for now but if its still there in 12 months I would consider the procedure a failure and would confidently say my quality of life has been significantly reduced.
Do you think loss of 1 line of acuity is acceptable, even if the result is 20/20? Maybe wavefront guided correction would have been better.
Without getting too much of a SMILE vs LASIK debat, why are you sceptical? Having read the findings of many tests (a lot of which are too complicated for a laymen like me), the conclusion always draws in favour of SMILE.
Edited by Ollie123 on Monday 21st September 21:39
968 said:
Day 4 is early days so don't expect too much. I'm sceptical about this procedure because there's no evidence it offers any benefit over LASIK. A good example is wavefront. It only makes a difference in retreatmrnts. In primary treatments it makes no difference which doesn't stop the companies marketing it heavily as a revolution, when it plainly is nothing of the sort. The same exists with Smile.
Hi, appreciate your comments.One study I read suggested most of the time wavefront offers no benefit, and only some individuals see an improvement over their previous best correct vision. It did however suggest that having wavefront had no negative effects, at worst it'll do nothing.
FYI the attraction to SMILE for me was lack of flap and thus lack of flap complications (although I know your thoughts on this already).
Post op 7 days now so no medicated drops from now on. Can't say vision is actually improving but its early days I know, although my right eye has been throbbing all day since waking up.
Had a check-up and eye test at 2 weeks.
All healing well and symptoms residing.
Eye test is 6/4 in one eye and 6/4- in the other (got 2 letters wrong), that's 20/13 in American money I think? Some astigmatism (.50) but not really sure what this means.
Still some healing to go, the doctor (or whatever they are) says at my 3 month checkup we can try for 6/3
All healing well and symptoms residing.
Eye test is 6/4 in one eye and 6/4- in the other (got 2 letters wrong), that's 20/13 in American money I think? Some astigmatism (.50) but not really sure what this means.
Still some healing to go, the doctor (or whatever they are) says at my 3 month checkup we can try for 6/3
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