SMILE surgery shows promising outcomes for patients with early presbyopia

Small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) is a safe and effective procedure for correcting myopia in patients with early presbyopia, providing excellent distance and intermediate vision while maintaining satisfactory near vision, according to a study.

The retrospective study followed 29 patients, aged 39 to 45, who underwent SMILE for myopia and myopic astigmatism with a binocular plano target refraction.

One-year post-surgery, all patients achieved uncorrected distance and intermediate visual acuity of 20/20 or better, while 96.6% also maintained uncorrected near visual acuity of at least 20/25. Although SMILE induced an increase in higher-order aberrations, including spherical aberration and coma, patients reported high satisfaction with their near vision, with no severe visual disturbances noted.

Reference
Zhang R, Zhao X, Yuan Y, Zhang Y, Chen Y. SMILE for correction of myopia in patients during the incipient phase of presbyopia. Int Ophthalmol. 2025;45(1):50. doi: 10.1007/s10792-025-03427-3. PMID: 39881018.