Top Frequently Asked Questions

The higher the prescription, the more cornea we will need to ablate. To ensure long-term stability of the cornea and avoid the risk of keratoconus, we need the cornea to have a residual thickness of at least 300µm. Smart TransPRK preserves the most corneal thickness out of all the refractive surgery procedures currently available. There is no suction involved, therefore avoiding the risk of retinal detachment during the procedure. We will provide a full consultation and assessment before assessing whether surgery is appropriate for you. Regardless of whether you proceed with the surgery or not, people with high myopia tend to have elongated eyeballs with associated risks, so regular check-ups are highly recommended.

Smart TransPRK is a surface procedure and can be performed safely to correct low myopia. However, you need to consider if surgery is really necessary. This is a personal decision based on your work and lifestyle needs. To correct low myopia, only a thin layer of cornea is ablated, so the cornea remains very stable. However, to find out whether the surgery is suitable for you, you will still require a full consultation and assessment.

Amblyopia itself is not associated with any extra complications when getting refractive surgery. We will provide a full consultation and examination to assess your suitability for surgery. Most importantly, we will measure your best corrected visual acuity, which is an indication of your best-achievable post-operative visual acuity, and ensure that everyone understands the expected outcome.

Refractive surgery reduces the thickness of your cornea, making it less stable. Having high eye blood pressure adds to the pressure on the cornea and increases the risk of corneal distortions, which may lead to high-order abberations, regression of myopia, or keratoconus. However, if you can keep your eye pressure under control, and your eyes are otherwise suitable for surgery, the doctor may advise that surgery is a reasonable option for you.

Many types of eye surgery require suction of the eye, putting mechnical stress on the retina, which may lead to posterior vitreous detachment or even retinal detachment. Smart TransPRK does not require suction, therefore avoids the risk of further damaging the retina. It is important to understand that refractive surgery will not treat glaucoma symptoms. If you suffer from blurry vision or glare as a result of glaucoma (instead of due to the refraction by your cornea) those symptoms will still be present after refractive surgery. If you doctor advises that the surgery is suitable for you, and you are happy with the predicted visual outcomes, then we can still go ahead with the surgery.