Walk into five different clinics across Jalandhar and Punjab and ask about laser vision correction, and you may hear five different brand names presented as five different breakthroughs: SMILE, SMILE Pro, SILK, CLEAR, sometimes Contoura Vision or Wavefront LASIK thrown in as if they belong on the same list. They don’t all belong on the same list — and the fact that they’re often presented that way is not an accident of communication. It is what happens when a hospital’s specific choice of laser platform gets marketed to a patient as if it were a medical discovery, rather than explained as an equipment decision.
Here is the plain version: SMILE, SMILE Pro, SILK, and CLEAR are not four different technologies. They are variations on two or three genuine surgical approaches, each carrying a different brand name because each manufacturer needs its version to sound distinct in a competitive market.
That commercial pressure is normal business behaviour. It is also completely irrelevant to which approach is actually right for your eyes — which is exactly the confusion this article exists to clear up.
Refractive Vision corrections: - Three Technologies, Not Five Brands
Nearly every laser vision correction procedure sold in Punjab today belongs to one of three underlying surgical concepts. Everything else is a brand name sitting on top of one of these three.
Read that chart the way it’s meant to be read: top-down, not left-to-right. The technology decides what actually happens to your cornea. The brand name underneath it describes which manufacturer’s version of that technology a given hospital happens to have installed.
Surface Ablation: PRK and TransPRK
The original modern approach, and still genuinely relevant today. The excimer laser reshapes the cornea’s outer surface directly — no flap, no lenticule. Because the surface layer regenerates over several days, recovery is more gradual than flap-based or lenticule-based methods. It remains a real, considered option for certain corneas, particularly thinner ones, not a fallback for when nothing else is suitable.
Flap-Based Correction: LASIK, Femto-LASIK, Contoura Vision, Wavefront LASIK
Conventional LASIK and Femto-LASIK both lift a thin, hinged corneal flap before the excimer laser reshapes the tissue beneath it; the flap is then repositioned without stitches. Femto-LASIK uses a femtosecond laser rather than a mechanical blade to create that flap — which is why it’s described as bladeless at the flap-creation step specifically, not throughout the whole procedure.
Contoura Vision and Wavefront LASIK are not separate procedures. They are customisation layers applied within flap-based LASIK — topography-guided and wavefront-guided planning respectively — that tailor the laser correction to an individual eye’s own surface irregularities, rather than a generic prescription-based treatment. Presenting them as if they compete with SMILE or CLEAR is a category error worth correcting directly: they sit inside the flap-based branch, not beside it.
Lenticule-Based Laser Vision Correction: SMILE, SMILE Pro, SILK, CLEAR — One Concept, Four Names
This is where most of the brand confusion lives. SMILE, SMILE Pro, SILK, and CLEAR all use the same underlying concept: a femtosecond laser shapes a small lenticule of tissue within the intact cornea, and that lenticule is removed through a keyhole incision only a few millimetres wide. No flap is created at any point.
What this means for you?
Platform-specific characteristics — laser speed, spot pattern, incision size — describe how a machine is engineered to behave. They are not, by themselves, guarantees of a better outcome for your particular eyes. That still depends on your cornea, evaluated individually.
Why the Confusion Exists, and Why It Isn't Your Problem to Solve Alone
Every laser platform manufacturer needs its version of lenticule extraction to sound different from its competitors’ versions. That’s a straightforward commercial reality, not a conspiracy — SMILE, SILK and CLEAR are made by different companies, and each company’s marketing department has an obvious incentive to make its platform sound like a category of one.
The result is that a patient comparing “SMILE vs. CLEAR” is often, without realising it, comparing two hospitals’ equipment choices rather than two genuinely different medical strategies. That’s not a failure of the patient’s research. It’s what happens when marketing language and clinical language get allowed to blur together.
What actually decides your technology category
Not the newest brand name. Not which platform a particular hospital happens to have. A structured diagnostic sequence decides the technology category—surface, flap-based, or lenticule-based: refraction and its stability over time, corneal topography and tomography, corneal thickness (pachymetry), and ocular surface and tear-film health.
Which Brand Names Are Available, and Why That's the Second Question
⚠ REQUIRES CITATION BEFORE PUBLISH: Confirm which specific lenticule-based platforms (SMILE, SMILE Pro, SILK, CLEAR) are actually installed and offered at Duggal Eye Hospital before publishing platform-specific availability claims tied to the hospital’s own equipment.
Technology vs. Brand — Reference Table
| Technology Category | Brand Names Within It | Flap? |
|---|---|---|
| Surface Ablation | PRK, TransPRK | No |
| Flap-Based | LASIK, Femto-LASIK (customised with Contoura Vision or Wavefront LASIK) | Yes |
| Lenticule-Based / Flapless | SMILE, SMILE Pro, SILK, CLEAR (Ziemer) | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Neither is universally better. Both are lenticule-based, flapless procedures built on different laser platforms. Which fits a given eye depends on that eye’s corneal findings, not on which brand name you’re comparing.
Because each hospital has chosen a specific laser platform to invest in, and each platform manufacturer markets its version of lenticule extraction under its own brand name. The underlying surgical concept, for SMILE, SILK, and CLEAR, is shared.
No. Contoura Vision is a topography-guided customisation applied within flap-based LASIK, not a standalone category. The same is true of Wavefront LASIK.
It means no corneal flap is created. Instead, a small lenticule of tissue is shaped inside the intact cornea and removed through a keyhole incision a few millimetres wide — the approach shared by SMILE, SMILE Pro, SILK, and CLEAR.
They belong to the same lenticule-based category and share the same fundamental surgical concept. SMILE Pro and SILK run on different laser platforms, with real but secondary technical differences — they are not identical, but they are not different categories either.
They belong to the same lenticule-based category and share the same fundamental surgical concept. SMILE Pro and SILK run on different laser platforms, with real but secondary technical differences — they are not identical, but they are not different categories either.
Not automatically. A newer platform may offer genuine technical refinements — speed, incision size — but the outcome for any individual eye still depends on corneal thickness, shape, and overall suitability, confirmed through a diagnostic work-up.
Through refraction, corneal topography and tomography, corneal thickness measurement, and an ocular surface assessment — which together determine whether surface ablation, flap-based, or lenticule-based correction fits your eyes, before any specific brand is discussed.
Yes. Two people can share an identical prescription and have meaningfully different corneas — different thickness, different surface shape — which is why the same prescription can lead to two different procedure recommendations after a proper work-up.
No. PRK and TransPRK remain genuinely appropriate for selected patients, particularly those with thinner corneas, and are not simply an older fallback option.
Which technology category is suitable for my eyes, why, what the diagnostic findings show, and which platform within that category the hospital offers — in that order.
Medical Review and Content Oversight
Medical content published by Duggal Eye Hospital, Jalandhar is reviewed
under the oversight of qualified ophthalmic professionals to help ensure
accuracy, clinical relevance and alignment with accepted ophthalmic and
refractive surgery practices.
Lead Medical Reviewer
Dr. Sanjeev Duggal
MS Ophthalmology
Lead Refractive Surgeon
Duggal Eye Hospital, Jalandhar
Note: Content is intended for educational purposes only
and does not replace a comprehensive eye examination, professional
medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Individual treatment decisions
should be made in consultation with a qualified ophthalmologist.