Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE): What Now? What Next?

Small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) has generated tremendous press since its arrival a decade ago. In this issue, Dishler et al1 (see page 1020) report outcomes for myopia and astigmatism treatments from the US Food and Drug Administration premarket approval clinical trial. Their findings demonstrate the excellent safety and efficacy achievable with SMILE and mirror what we have anticipated based on data from outside the United States. In more than 300 eyes with myopic astigmatism treated, 89% of eyes achieved 20/20 or better uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), 95% of eyes were within 0.50 diopter of emmetropia, and no eye lost 2 or more lines of corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) at 12 months.