ZEISS Celebrates 1 Million SMILE Laser Vision Correction Procedures

The Medical Technology business group of ZEISS announced today that doctors performing laser vision correction surgery using its revolutionary SMILE refractive technology have now surpassed one million procedures worldwide. ReLEx^® SMILE is now being performed regularly around the world by over 1300 surgeons in over 65 countries with patients reporting high satisfaction with the efficacy and results of this minimally invasive procedure.

“Patients want quality of vision and a high level of safety. That’s why we choose SMILE. Small incision – great patient satisfaction,” says refractive surgeon Dr. Joaquín Fernández from Qvision, Almere, Spain.

SMILE, using the VisuMax^® femtosecond laser, has quickly proven its clinical effectiveness and demonstrates a variety of clinical advantages, studies have shown¹. As an FDA-approved procedure, SMILE provides surgeons an additional proven laser vision correction option to offer their patients.

“We are thrilled that SMILE, the first major advancement in laser vision correction since the 1990’s, has reached this important milestone and that ZEISS has played an integral role in ushering in a new era in refractive surgery with this proven technology,” says James V. Mazzo, Global President Ophthalmic Devices at Carl Zeiss Meditec. “We are honored to see SMILE, our latest refractive procedure, so widely accepted by doctors and their patients, and that SMILE has helped doctors restore and improve the vision for so many people around the world.”

ZEISS provides surgeons one of the most comprehensive laser refractive surgery technology portfolios in the industry. For over 30 years, since ZEISS introduced the first commercially available excimer laser system for vision correction surgery in 1986, the company has continued to provide laser eye surgery systems and applications, as well as integrated corneal diagnostics designed to safely, effectively and efficiently support the range of corneal surgery and refractive surgery procedures. SMILE (small incision lenticule extraction), the latest advancement in laser vision correction, was first performed in 2007 by Prof. Dr. med Walter Sekundo on a sighted patient and became commercially available with the launch of ReLEx SMILE in 2011.

During a ReLEx SMILE minimally invasive eye surgery procedure, doctors correct patients’ refractive errors using the VisuMax^® femtosecond laser. With the laser, surgeons create a thin disc-shaped lenticule within the cornea which is then removed through a small incision on the surface of the cornea, also created by the laser, thereby achieving the desired vision correction. SMILE is a minimally invasive procedure, adding to the great choices for laser vision correction that surgeons already have. It requires only one laser to perform the entire treatment, and due to the small incision it leaves the outer corneal layer largely intact, thus potentially contributing to the cornea’s stability after surgery – both biomechanical and refractive – and to fast visual recovery.

“This one-millionth SMILE procedure represents not only a major milestone for refractive technology, it represents the dedication of surgeons around the world in advancing ophthalmic care for their patients,” said Dr. Ludwin Monz, President and CEO of Carl Zeiss Meditec. “We are pleased that so many patients around the world have been able to benefit from ZEISS’ technology and that ZEISS continues to support doctors with innovations to help them improve their patients’ vision and quality of life.”

For more information, watch the SMILE video at www.zeiss.com/smile

¹ Jesper Hjortdal (Aarhus Universitetshospital und Kommunehospital, Denmark), Rupal Shah (New Vision Laser Centers, India), Osama Ibrahim (Roayah Vision Center Alexandria, Egypt), Controlled Multicenter Study, data on file, 2011.