Duration of the operation has no effect on early visual acuity after small incision lenticule extraction surgery

INTRODUCTION: The effect of the duration of small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) operation on early postoperative visual acuity (VA) was evaluated.
METHODS: Medical records of refractive lenticule extraction patients were retrospectively reviewed. Data on 38 eyes of 20 consecutive patients operated on by the same surgeon were included in the study. Primary outcome measures were corrected distance VA at postoperative first day and first week. Duration of the surgery was determined from video recordings of the operations.
RESULTS: Mean patient age was 27.8±4.8 years (range: 21–40 years). Mean preoperative spherical equivalent was -4.38±1.4. Postoperative distance corrected visual acuity was 0.7±0.1 and 0.8±0.2 at day 1 and week 1 visits, respectively. Mean dura- tion of operation was 229.5±106 seconds (range: 95–525 seconds). No perioperative complications were seen. There was no statistically significant relationship between surgery time and postoperative VA at day 1 and week 1 visits.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Total time of operation does not have a statistically significant effect on early VA in SMILE patients.