Beyond 20/20: How Laser Eye Surgery Boosts Quality of Life (SMILE vs. FS‐LASIK)
Pieter Juanarta, Susanti Natalya Sirait, R. Angga Kartiwa, Feti Karfiati, Rova Virgana, Budiman · 2026
Read Beyond 20/20: How Laser Eye Surgery Boosts Quality of Life (SMILE vs. FS‐LASIK) by Pieter Juanarta, Susanti Natalya Sirait, R. Angga Kartiwa, Feti Karfiati, Rova Virgana, Budiman (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13244257.txt.
Description
Pieter Juanarta and colleagues compared life quality after two laser eye operations that both promise freedom from glasses. Their prospective study appeared in the Journal of Ophthalmology in 2026. At an Indonesian eye hospital, fifty-seven patients completed vision quality questionnaires and dry-eye testing after surgery. Thirty-three had FS-LASIK, which cuts a flap. Twenty-four had SMILE, which removes a lens-shaped sliver through a small cut.
Both groups saw well, but their day-to-day experience diverged. SMILE patients reported the stronger improvement in quality of life. The pattern fits the wider literature the authors cite, where SMILE leaves fewer dry-eye complaints and fewer postoperative symptoms than flap surgery. Eyesight charts alone, they argue, understate what patients gain. A procedure can win on the letter chart and still lose on comfort. Their conclusion supports counseling patients on symptoms and daily feel, not just the prescription.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Pieter Juanarta, Susanti Natalya Sirait, R. Angga Kartiwa, Feti Karfiati, Rova Virgana, Budiman |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 34 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |