Abstract: Small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) is a lamellar corneal refractive surgery, which has become one of the mainstream corneal refractive surgery. The evaluation of postoperative visual quality can be divided into subjective visual quality (visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, visual quality questionnaire) and objective visual quality (wavefront aberration, point spread function, Strehl ratio, modulation transfer function). The vision recovered quickly, and the uncorrected visual acuity was significantly improved of patients after SMILE surgery. Postoperative high-order aberrations, spherical aberrations, and coma increased, contrast sensitivity, visual scale evaluation, and binocular visual function decreased at early, but gradually recovered in 3~6 months. (Int Rev Ophthalmol, 2021, 45: 268-272)

Key words: small incision lenticule extraction, visual quality, refractive surgery