Can I have SMILE Pro if I have dry eyes?
It depends on how severe your dry eye is, what is causing it and how it responds to treatment. Mild, well-controlled dry eye may not be a barrier. Significant or untreated ocular surface disease is often a reason to treat the surface first, to delay, or to advise against refractive surgery altogether.
Quick answer
It depends on how severe your dry eye is, what is causing it and how it responds to treatment. Mild, well-controlled dry eye may not be a barrier. Significant or untreated ocular surface disease is often a reason to treat the surface first, to delay, or to advise against refractive surgery altogether.
A general answer about SMILE Pro, not advice about your own eyes. Only an ophthalmologist who has examined you can answer it for your case.
- Topic
- Eligibility & assessment
- Answer length
- Quick answer plus detail
- Sourced
- Yes
In more detail
This is one of the reasons a thorough preoperative assessment matters. Tear film, meibomian gland function and ocular surface staining are measurements, not opinions, and they should be taken before anyone quotes you a price.
Related guides
Subjects this question touches
The pages that answer the subject behind the question, rather than the question itself.
- Procedure SMILE Pro
- Comparison SMILE Pro vs LASIK
- Place SMILE in Dubai
- Procedure SMILE
- Comparison LASIK vs SMILE
It describes what is generally true. Whether it applies to your eyes depends on measurements taken during an examination, and two people asking the same question can receive different answers. Read the answer as a starting point for the conversation, not as its conclusion.
People also ask
The closest subjects to this question, from both question banks.
- Can SMILE Pro correct short-sightedness (myopia)? Eligibility & assessment
- Can SMILE Pro correct astigmatism? Eligibility & assessment
- Can SMILE Pro correct long-sightedness (hyperopia)? Eligibility & assessment
- Can I have SMILE Pro if I have had previous eye surgery? Eligibility & assessment
- Can I have SMILE Pro while pregnant or breastfeeding? Eligibility & assessment
- Who is eligible for SMILE Pro? Eligibility & assessment
More SMILE Pro questions
Sources & further reading
We prefer primary sources. Where a claim comes from a manufacturer, a single study or a regulator, it is labelled as such below.
- Refractive surgery and dry eye: an update
An update on how different refractive procedures affect the ocular surface, with attention to preoperative screening for dry eye.
Used for Why tear film assessment belongs in preoperative screening.
Link checked 22 September 2026
- Dry Eyes After SMILE
A review of ocular surface changes after SMILE, including how dry-eye signs and symptoms are measured and how they change over the first postoperative months.
Used for Explaining why dry eye is a key preoperative consideration.
Link checked 22 September 2026