Relationship Between Postoperative Residual Refractive Error and Preoperative Corneal Stiffness in Small Incision Lenticule Extraction.

Postoperative residual refractive error was associated with preoperative corneal stiffness. Patients with less-stiff corneas had a 2-3-fold increased risk of residual refractive error post-SMILE. Preoperative analysis of corneal stiffness can help modify nomogram algorithms of surgery and improve the predictability of refractive outcomes.