What our patients say

SMILE (Small Incision Lenticule Extraction) is a type of laser vision correction surgery that uses the Visumax 800 femtosecond laser to modify the cornea and thus correcting refractive errors. The procedure is considered to be “further developed Femto-LASIK” and, respectively, it is even more minimally invasive laser vision correction.

SMILE is capable of correcting both nearsightedness (myopia) and astigmatism. Presbyopia and hypermetropia cannot be treated with this procedure.

With more than a 10-year track record of success, SMILE is as effective at correcting vision problems as other forms of laser eye surgery, including Femto-LASIK.

More than 10 million SMILE procedures have been performed worldwide by over 3000 trained surgeons (up to the first half of 2024). It is the fastest-growing option for laser vision correction to date and accounts for roughly 20% of all laser vision correction procedures across the globe.

One of the most common concerns patients’ have prior to the surgery is their fear of experiencing any pain during the treatment, most likely derived from the presence of ‘laser’ in the name (which doesn’t help). However, since the procedure is performed using a topical anaesthetic, the surgery is completely painless.

After the numbing eye drops have been applied, the anaesthetic will be in full effect, making the surface of the eye numb. During the procedure patients report that they do not experience any pain, although it is often described as a “weird” experience. The actual time the laser is treating the eyes is usually over before you know it. Therefore, any feeling of discomfort will be minimal and very brief.

In summary, during the SMILE laser vision correction procedure, the patient will not see, feel, smell or hear the SMILE laser.

The SMILE procedure is extremely quick and convenient, usually taking no longer than 15 minutes for both eyes, as the laser proportion of the procedure is all over in 10 seconds!

The cornea heals completely within 24 hours. This means you can return to most normal activities, including driving the next day and be back to work 48 hours after SMILE laser surgery. We recommend that you wait a few weeks before swimming or playing any sports after the surgery. Although everyone is different, recovery for SMILE is rapid and most people will be feeling great the very next day.

It is normal to expect some degree of discomfort after the surgery. For 3 or 4 hours after the surgery, most people’s eyes will feel a bit scratchy, dry or uncomfortable.

Shortly after the surgery, don’t be alarmed if you experience some haziness or blurry vision, as this is often a common occurrence with patients immediately after the surgery for a few hours. To ease this slight discomfort and help the cornea heal, your surgeon might give you some medicated drops.

SMILE surgery uses a femtosecond laser to correct vision. Although SMILE is the latest technique, this femtosecond laser technology has been proven in the field of laser eye surgery a million times over and is proven, safe and effective. Femtosecond lasers have been used to perform Femto-LASIK eye surgery since 2001 and complications are incredibly rare. The sophisticated femtosecond laser technology for SMILE is used in Europe since 2011 and in USA since 2016. Furthermore, surgeons around the world have embraced SMILE as an effective laser eye surgery procedure.

Both procedures are excellent choice for premium laser vision correction with unsurpassed clinical outcomes. Still SMILE as a newer laser procedures is designed to be a bit better - a bit less invasive, a bit safer and a bit faster in terms of procedure time and recovery period.

Most people who are suitable candidates for Femto-LASIK are also candidates for SMILE eye surgery, provided they have a type of refractive error that SMILE can treat. Patients must also be at least 18 years of age. With that being said, you will only know whether you are suitable for SMILE after undergoing a series of tests with your doctor.

LASIK stands for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis – a type of laser surgery which corrects a wide range of optical imperfections.

The prefix "Femto" characterizes the preparation for the laser correction with femtosecond laser, before computer-controlled excimer laser modulates the cornea, in order to correct the the vision of the patient. Femto-LASIK achieves excellent results compared to the classic (superficial) laser procedures, shorter recovery period and minimal discomfort.

Femto-LASIK corrects a wide range of optical imperfections, so our patients benefit from the advantages of the laser vision correction.

Femto-LASIK may correct nearsightedness (myopia) up to -12.00 D, farsightedness (hypermetropia) up to +6.00, and astigmatism up to +/- 6.00 D.

You must be at least 18 years of age, and there must be no change in your dioptric prescription for the last year. Your eyes must be healthy, without scars, retinal diseases or corneal abnormalities. It is important that you have realistic expectations and good reason for you to have laser surgery, but all this will be discussed during thorough examination.

Eye Clinic Luxor offers the latest, all-laser procedure (Femto-LASIK), which allows almost all candidates with healthy eyes, to have laser correction of their vision.

The first documented procedure for treatment of dioptric power is performed in 1963, without the use of laser.

The excimer laser (which treats nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism) has been in use since 1989, as it shapes the corneal surface – procedure known as PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy).

In 1991 the eye surgeons combine the action of the excimer laser with a flap, which allows the correction to be performed in a deeper layer of the cornea. This new type of laser surgery is called LASIK (Laser-assisted In Situ Keratomileusis).

Since 2001, femtosecond laser has been used to create the flap, thus the vision correction is done entirely by laser: the procedure is called Femto-LASIK, and so far millions of people around the world have used it to live their life free of glasses and contact lenses.

In response to our patients’ wishes to improve the quality of their life, in 2008, we at Eye Hospital Luxor, started offering laser correction of nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, using the latest and most precise technology.

After Femto-LASIK procedure at Eye Hospital Luxor, you will not be needing glasses for far distance. Up to age of about 45 years, you will not use glasses for close distance. At about 45 years, as a result of the natural eye aging process (presbyopia), you will need small dioptre glasses only for close distance – for reading or computer.

If you are over 45 years of age and you want to be totally independent of glasses (for far and close distance), we recommend you to ask our specialists about implantation of multifocal lenses.Laser vision correction

In some cases, especially of high-diopter nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, the glasses may give distorted, unreal image. The frame restricts the peripheral vision and may cause discomfort around the nose and the ears, when used for a long time. Some people simply do not like themselves wearing glasses, or it is difficult for them to find the right model. The glasses may be lost or accidentally broken, which causes distress if you only have one pair, especially at long-distant journeys. Condensation may form on the surface of their lenses during temperature differences or sport, which may impede your daily activities.

All disadvantages of wearing glasses may be eliminated with the laser procedure Femto-LASIK.

Generally, the risk of a sight-threatening corneal infection is proven to be higher in the contact lenses, than in the laser surgery. The contact lenses may cause changes to the shape of the cornea, which are difficult to treat. The individuals who wear contact lenses suffer more often from conjunctivitis, compared to those who don’t wear lenses. When you travel you must bring solutions and spare lenses, to make sure that you do not discredit yourself at a business meeting, or miss important moments of your holiday. These are some of the discomforts, which you may forget about after the laser procedure Femto-LASIK.

Many people develop strong eye irritation, associated with materials, solutions and proteins stuck to the surface of the contact lenses. Others cannot wear them during the whole day, because of dryness or increasing discomfort during the day.

With Femto-LASIK you may say good-bye to the contact lenses and the problems associated with them.

In case of emergency situations, looking for your glasses or putting on contact lenses may be impossible or risky venture. In such cases you may have to rely only on your natural vision. After Femto-LASIK in Eye Hospital Luxor, you will always know, that you have the vision you need, at any time and any place.

For some job positions, wearing glasses or contact lenses may turn out to be impractical. The physical work often requires wearing protective glasses, which are hard to combine with prescription glasses. The contact lenses may be a poor choice for dusty environment (warehouses, construction sites, etc.), because the dust particles stick to them, causing strong irritation. In the police, army, aviation and the maritime industry there may be some restrictions about people wearing glasses and contacts, for safety reasons.

The Femto-LASIK procedure at Eye Hospital Luxor will help you achieve the career you desire, without the need of wearing glasses or contact lenses, like everybody else.

Everybody who actively practices sport, especially water sport, knows the discomfort, caused by glasses and contact lenses. After the recovery period (about a month after the Femto-LASIK procedure), you can practice sports like everybody else, but without the need of wearing glasses or contact lenses.

Many people do not like themselves wearing glasses and this plays a huge role in their life and self-confidence. Other people have problems with the contact lenses, which often cause irritation and redness of their eyes. Yet, others refuse to wear contacts because of the daily unpleasant sensations associated with putting the lenses on and off.

With Femto-LASIK you can say good-bye to the uncomfortable glasses and to irritating contact lenses.

Nobody can give you guarantee for 100% vision. The result of the laser procedure depends on too many and various factors, such as the degree of your nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism, and the unique features of your eye, for us to give such a firm guarantee.

Some clinics claim to guarantee 100% vision under absolutely any circumstances, which sounds unserious, and in a way misleading.

What we can tell you, is that we use the latest, safest and most precise technology in the world, and almost all of our patients have 100% vision, or better after Femto-LASIK. The laser procedure allows corrections of wide range of optical imperfections, for perfect or near-perfect vision.

With the laser procedure you save future expenses for glasses and contact lenses, which in the long term may be more than the price of the procedure.

Some voluntary health insurance funds may cover part of your expenses for the laser eye surgery. If you have additional health insurance you may ask for possible reimbursements.

All surgical procedures hide a risk of complications. However, complications which may endanger your vision are extremely rare, and Femto-LASIK is one of the most harmless and safest medical procedures in the world.

The most serious risk in laser surgery is associated with infections. Until this moment, in Eye Hospital Luxor there has never been a case of infection, after laser correction of the vision. To avoid infection, one month after the procedure, we do not allow swimming in public pools or potentially contaminated water (i.e. hot tubs, sea, etc). Intensive physical activity, which causes excessive sweating, is not recommended, as the sweat contains microbes, which may cause infection if they enter the eye. For preventive purposes you will receive antibiotic eye drops, which you must use for about a month after the correction.

The most frequent complications are very mild and do not endanger your vision. They include insufficient correction or overcorrection of your dioptres, and optical aberrations (halo, glare, etc). If the correction is incomplete, you may have a second correction at our expense, which will further improve your vision.

Generally, the laser procedure Femto-LASIK is currently the safest and most precise method for laser correction of the vision.

On the day of the laser correction we will perform a final check of all your tests and your individual treatment plan. You will sign an informed consent form (which you read before the procedure). You can ask questions, if you have any.

You can find more information at:

Many patients fear that they will be worried and nervous during the laser procedure. Our team will help you feel comfortable and informed about the stages of the correction. Based on our experience, we know that even the most worried patients can be relaxed and cooperate with us during the laser correction.

In the end, most of the people confess that the laser procedure had gone much easier, than what they thought.

Many patients worry of the possible consequences if they accidentally blink or look away during the laser procedure. A special device will be placed between your eyelids, which will keep them open during the procedure and prevent you from blinking.

Our laser systems are equipped with perfected trackers. Literally, once it focuses on your eye, the laser device follows even its smallest movements, so there is no any danger for you, in case you look away.

Femto-LASIK is virtually painless procedure. After the administration of the anesthetic eye drops, you should not feel any significant discomfort at any stage of the laser correction.

During the first 24 hours after Femto-LASIK, you may feel dryness or sandy sensation in your eyes. After 24 hours there should not be any discomfort.

The anesthesia used during the laser procedure is local – eye drops. Before the procedure we will give you a pill with mild sedative effect, so you can feel more relaxed. You will be conscious at all times and able to follow our instructions.

The initial detailed examination takes about 2 hours. In addition to a complete check-up, a series of specific measurements will be performed with special devices. These are completely painless, noninvasive tests, which will determine if you are suitable for Femto-LASIK or other laser procedure. We will dilate your pupils during the tests.

On the day of the procedure, you will stay with us for several hours, as the stay in the surgery room is about 20 – 30 minutes, while the laser systems operate for seconds. The follow-up exams are on the 1-st day, 1-st week, 1-st month and the 3-rd month after the laser procedure.

In most cases, Femto-LASIK provides very fast recovery of the vision (only within days), with little or no discomfort. The result, however, is not instant, especially in patients who need bigger correction. The recovery period, usually and possibly, takes several weeks, even months in some cases.

Some refractive procedures are more easily reversible than others. Femto-LASIK makes permanent change to the corneal curvature, as the result may be modified with another laser correction.