In this video, a leading ophthalmologist discusses Small-Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE) Eye Surgery in Tijuana. It is a safer and new alternative to LASIK treatment now available on Mexico with quicker recovery.
Video Transcription
“The reason why SMILE has not been popularized now in the US is because Lasik definitely is a brand name. There are dozens of patients treated with Lasik. Obviously, there are some cases that have not gone so well and have become very popular and there are websites where they say you should not have Lasik and most of those complications have to do with the flap in Lasik. In SMILE we do not use any flaps. It’s one hundred percent laser and the rehabilitation is extremely, extremely fast.
Mainly patients who have near-sightedness or astigmatism are the best candidates for SMILE. It is totally painless. One of the advantages is that it only takes 21 seconds to apply the laser. It is very accurate and compared to Lasik. It is as accurate as Lasik except for that there is no flap. So, in regards to safety it’s a much safer procedure than Lasik. There are really minimum possibilities of having complications with SMILE. I would say just like any other procedure, try not to hurt yourself when you recently had the procedure, first twenty-four hours and infection.
Apply the eye drops as indicated to prevent any infections. With SMILE we can remove 90-95% of the near sightedness and astigmatism any patient can have. This technique has been improving with years as we’ve been learning out to treat patients. It is a very new technique. But with the years of experience we have had with SMILE now, we have evolved this procedure towards the rehabilitation being very, very quick. So, patients are capable of seeing better than 20/40, 20/25 within a few hours of the procedure.
When we treat with it, routinely we can see the patients the same day, if we do the procedures in the morning. If we do the procedures in the evening then we ask the patients to stay overnight so we can check them the very next day.
So most of our patients that have had SMILE recently, for example, in the case of women they are able to use make-up the following day. Most of them are able to drive the following day and return to work without any complications within two days.
For patients that have had SMILE, we recommend them not to go swimming for one week. We do Small-Incision Lenticule Extraction — that lenticule that we are extracting will never grow back. So, that means the correction that we do will be for life. But obviously the eye is still alive and obviously the eye grows older and as it grows older, the prescription might change. You might start needing reading eye glasses or you might develop other types of diseases like cataract or micro degeneration. Those diseases can impact your vision even if you hadn’t had SMILE.
So, after SMILE, if in the future, the prescription changes because you grow older and need reading eye glasses now or there is a shift in your …, we can always redo your eyes; we can also laser them again and improve that vision.
SMILE is still under studies by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). So, I m pretty sure that very soon maybe one year, couple of years it will be approved in the US.
It is a little bit more expensive than Lasik because it’s a much better procedure. It’s a much more accurate laser. It’s a much more accurate technique and it’s a safer technique. So, just like having a new I-phone or having a new mobile phone or having a new computer, routinely as the computers get better and the computers get faster and are more precise. Well, the laser that we use for it also runs with the same characteristics. And so the better the procedure is, the faster the procedure is. It has to be a little more expensive.
Routinely, patients that are from out of town, if we have a chance to check them in the morning we do all the check after the morning and we can actually do the procedure before noon and then re-check them again in the afternoon and the patient is able to leave back home. Obviously, if you are coming from farther away, the option of staying a night it’s always a better call and can be organized by the staff.
Routinely, SMILE eye procedure is very safe and very accurate. One of the biggest advantages is that unless the eye is red, unless the vision is not good, unless there is discomfort then it’s a very good idea to check with your eye doctor when you get back home.”
We also offer affordable packages for other kinds of eye procedures such as Lasik Laser Surgery and Glaucoma Eye Surgery in Tijuana. The cost of these surgeries is almost a third of the US prices.
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