a procedureLASIK

A thin flap is cut in the surface of the cornea, the tissue beneath is reshaped with an excimer laser to change where the eye focuses, and the flap is laid back without stitches. Both eyes in one sitting, minutes each, drops rather than injections. It treats the cornea, which means it cannot help an eye whose prescription is too strong or whose cornea is too thin — and that is the eye the implanted lens exists for.

Almost nobody pays for this out of a public budget, which is why its price pages are the plainest in this batch: a per-eye figure and a list of what the figure buys.

Optegra in the United Kingdom publishes a four-rung ladder, all per eye: LASEK £1,495, LASIK £2,095, ReLEx SMILE £2,695, Presbyond £2,995, each stated to include consultations, treatment, aftercare, medication and any enhancement treatment if clinically required. Two eyes doubles all four.

LasikPlus in the United States states prices starting between $2,495 and $2,895 per eye before any discounts or promotions, covering the all-laser procedure, pre-operative exams and follow-up care, and cites a Market Scope survey range of $1,500 to $5,000 per eye across the country.

Bumrungrad in Bangkok does not sell LASIK on the page read for this record. It sells the newer lenticule operation: vision correction with ReLEx SMILE for both eyes, 102,000 baht, package IPDEYE34 — and its terms state the package does not include the doctor's fee for the initial consultation or the examinations that decide whether the patient is suitable at all.

Inference — that is the comparison worth making. Both eyes by SMILE in Bangkok is a little over half the price of one eye by SMILE in England, and the Thai package leaves out exactly the appointment that decides eligibility, which is the appointment a traveller cannot have before booking.

The state's position is written into the Australian schedule. Item 42702 pays for lens extraction with an intraocular lens and excludes, in its own descriptor, "surgery performed to correct a refractive error". Refractive surgery is a purchase, not an entitlement, in every market read for this record.

A suitability examination first — corneal thickness, prescription stability, dry eye, pupil size — and it is the examination that turns patients away. Then the flap, the laser, the flap back, an hour of rest, drops for weeks, a check the next day. Vision is usually usable within a day or two.

What the price pages differ on is the aftercare and the enhancement. Optegra's figure states that it covers aftercare, medication and a further treatment if clinically required; the Bangkok package covers the procedure and excludes the consultation and the screening; the American page describes an enhancement policy in the words "often included" within a set period. For a patient who flies home, an enhancement included at the clinic that did the surgery is an enhancement in another country.

As of 17 September 2026 the published per-eye prices read for this record are £1,495 to £2,995 in the United Kingdom by technique, $2,495 to $2,895 in the United States before discounts, and CAD 490 to CAD 3,090 at one Canadian chain, from its starting tier to its top one. In Bangkok the equivalent page sells the lenticule operation for both eyes at 102,000 baht, with the screening and the initial consultation outside the package.

This page describes an elective eye operation and the prices published for it. It is not medical advice and it does not say who is a candidate.