Types of Laser Eye Surgery

- There are four distinct types of laser eye surgery commonly in use today

- Each is founded on a long history that dates back to the 1950s

- The latest type of laser eye surgery is SMILE

- The second most advanced type is Bladeless Custom LASIK – commonly considered the standard of care at the moment

- The previous version of this was Standard LASIK – less and less used today, but responsible for the popularization of LASIK in the 2000s

- The initial type of laser eye surgery were surface laser procedures, like PRK. We only use PRK now when people are not suitable for LASIK.

There Are Four Major Types of Laser Eye Surgery

PRK uses an alcohol solution to access the treatment bed and a laser to perform the treatment.

Standard LASIK uses both a blade (a microkeratome) to create a flap and a laser to perform the treatment.

Bladeless custom LASIK uses lasers only, eliminating the need for a blade.

ReLEx SMILE is a form of LASIK where the surgeon creates a small incision to remove the lenticule from the cornea.