New Visumax and First SMILE laser eye surgery in Perth

This is not our 1st new laser installation. Dr Chan has used 5 different laser systems in his career. We were expecting hours of presentations, training and simulations from the laser company. In our experience, the Zeiss installation and training process have been by far the most comprehensive and efficient.

As for the Laser, the Visumax laser is a lot larger in size when seen inside the theatre. It dwarfs the Allegretto wavelight laser adjacent to it. The machine is very heavy and yet so delicately balanced such that no weight is actually on the patient’s eye. 

The installation and calibration process took three days to complete.   There was presentation and training sessions for surgeon, nurses, admin and clinic staff in separate sessions over one week.  Dr Chan also had simulation training and hours of test patients training before certification.  This is despite his experience with other similar lasers.  

As SMILE is more technically demanding for the staff and laser, SMILE was not performed until we had 2 full theatre sessions of LASIK in Perth eye hospital with the new laser.  According to the Zeiss team, Dr Chan had very little difficulty transitioning into SMILE.  Dr Chan feels that the technique is very similar to lamellar cornea graft dissection that he has performed hundreds of times. 

Our first SMILE patient was very keen on SMILE as she had a friend who had it overseas.  In fact she was going to fly to Singapore to have it since it wasn't available in Perth until now.  She was fully aware of the new installation but she had full confidence in Dr Chan and the team.  Her husband had poor vision most of his life from Keratoconus.  Dr Chan had improved his vision previously.  

The SMILE surgery was completed successfully faster than a typical LASIK procedure even though it was the first case in Perth.  There was no pain after the surgery. She had just under 20/20 vision on the first day after surgery.  Vision was perfect after 1 week.  There were no dry eyes which was this patient’s biggest fear.