Abstract
Purpose:
To report the complications associated with refractive lenticule extraction (ReLEx) in its 2 modalities Femtosecond Lenticule Extraction (FLEx) and Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE)
Methods:
Retrospective review of consecutive clinical case series.
Results:
94 eyes for the FLEx group and 160 for the SMILE group with mean follow-up around 36 months. 15 FLEx eyes presented surgical related complications (18.3%) including suction loss, lenticule failed to be created, decentered treatment, lenticule miss-dissection; and 43 SMILE eyes presented surgical complications (26.87%); including epithelial defect, as the most frequent,suction loss, lenticule miss-dissection, cap rupture, and lenticule rupture.
Conclusions:
While ReLEx complications can occur, most are solvable favorably, and not visually significant