Evaluating postoperative quality of life and satisfaction in physicians undergoing small incision lenticule extraction

Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE) offers a minimally invasive refractive surgery option. We evaluated the impact of SMILE on visual satisfaction and quality of life among 75 physicians-non-surgeons (n = 45), microscopic surgeons (n = 15), and non-microscopic surgeons (n = 15)-by comparing pre- and postoperative questionnaire responses. A self-developed survey with strong internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.84, 95% CI 0.79-0.89) was used, and data were analysed with ANOVA and non-parametric tests. Postoperative satisfaction after SMILE was significantly higher than preoperative satisfaction with spectacles and contact lenses among non-surgeons (p < 0.001) and microscopic surgeons (p = 0.016 vs. spectacles; p = 0.003 vs. lenses). Among non-microscopic surgeons, satisfaction after SMILE was greater than with contact lenses (p = 0.001) and showed a trend versus spectacles (p = 0.060). All subgroups reported marked quality-of-life improvements, including reduced visual discomfort, increased self-confidence, and enhanced performance in daily tasks. No significant differences were detected between specialty subgroups. These findings demonstrate that SMILE surgery substantially improves self-reported visual satisfaction and quality of life in physicians with high visual demands and support its clinical applicability in similarly demanding professional settings. Larger, prospective studies incorporating objective visual metrics are warranted to confirm and extend these results.