Patient-reported satisfaction after small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) in 1,620 myopic patients

Session Details

Session Title: Presented Poster Session: Keratorefractive Surgery Results II

Venue: Poster Village: Pod 2

First Author: : S.Nielsen DENMARK

Co Author(s): :    A. Eriksen   A. Ivarsen   H. Sejersen   C. Moeller   C. Hedegaard   J. Hjortdal        

Abstract Details

Purpose:

SMILE is a popular surgical technique for myopia correction. We aimed to investigate the satisfaction after SMILE surgery and find if there are parameters associated with low satisfaction to ensure high quality.

Setting:

Department of Ophthalmology, Aarhus University Hospital in the period 2011-2017.

Methods:

A prospective quality control study in all 2025 moderate/high- myopic patients (<-6 sf) undergoing SMILE treatment for myopia and myopic-astigmatism. Demographic and clinical variables were registered in all patients before and in 1620 patients 3 months after SMILE surgery. 405 patients chose not to attend the follow-up visit. Patients were interviewed with a patient reported outcome questionnaire 3 months postoperatively. Data were analysed by logistic regression analysis.

Results:

Patients mean age were 37 (range 16-60) years, 96 % of all patients were “very satisfied” or “satisfied”. Less than one percent of the patients complained of severe night vision disturbances or severe dry eye complaints. Older patients (50-60 years) were significantly more dissatisfied than younger, odds ratio 0.21 (0.10-0.80).  The overall satisfaction was significantly lower in patients with poor uncorrected visual acuity after surgery. Patients who experienced night vision disturbances at 3 months after surgery were more dissatisfied. A tendency of patients with high pre-operative myopia being more satisfied post-operative was observed, however, this was not statistically significant.

Conclusions:

In routine patient reported outcome measures, patients in general are very satisfied after SMILE surgery. Patients in the presbyopic age (>50 years) tend to be more dissatisfied suggesting that distinct pre-operative information on presbyopia is crucial. As expected, the overall satisfaction declines in those patients who did not have a good uncorrected visual acuity after surgery.

Financial Disclosure:

None