Visual image quality after small-incision lenticule extraction compared with that of spectacles and contact lenses

Abstract

Purpose:To assess the influence of small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) for high myopia on the visual image quality assessed by the logarithm of the visual Strehl ratio (logVSX) and put this into a clinical context by pairwise comparing the logVSX of postoperative eyes with those of myopic controls wearing spectacles and/or contact lenses.Setting:University hospital.Design:Prospective and cross-sectional clinical study.Methods:Patients with a myopic spherical equivalent of at least 6.00 diopters treated with SMILE aimed at emmetropia and correspondingly myopic controls corrected with spectacles and/or contact lenses were included. The logVSX calculation was divided into habitual logVSX based on the wavefront aberration measurement directly and optimal logVSX calculated in a theoretical through-focus experiment to obtain the best-achievable logVSX.Results:A total of 117 eyes of 61 patients and 64 eyes of 34 myopic controls were included. SMILE did not affect the habitual logVSX but worsened the optimal logVSX (P