LASIK costs £2,000–£4,000 for both eyes in the UK and £700–£1,400 in Turkey, Czechia, Hungary or Poland. Here is what drives the price at home, what the overseas quote really includes, and why follow-up matters more than the saving.
Laser eye surgery is one of the most price-sensitive elective procedures in the UK, partly because headline advertising rarely reflects what people actually pay. The £595-per-eye figure on a billboard is the entry price for the simplest prescription on the oldest platform. Most patients are quoted something else entirely once they are assessed.
This guide sets out real UK price ranges by procedure type, compares them with established clinics abroad, and explains the specific things that make one quote cheaper than another — because in refractive surgery the difference is usually the technology and the aftercare, not the surgeon's margin.
Typical private UK pricing, both eyes:
UK pricing is usually tiered by prescription strength: higher myopia, significant astigmatism and thinner corneas push you into a more expensive tier or a different procedure. Ask which tier you fall into before comparing against an overseas quote, or you will be comparing your actual price against someone else's entry price.
Indicative pricing at established clinics treating international patients, both eyes:
SMILE and premium wavefront platforms sit at the upper end of each range. Refractive lens exchange abroad typically runs £1,800–£3,200 per eye.
Refractive surgery is one of the cheaper procedures to travel for, but the trip is not free:
A £950 procedure realistically becomes £1,300–£1,900 all in — still well below the UK's £2,000–£4,000. Unlike small dental procedures, the saving here survives the trip comfortably.
Before choosing on cost, understand what you are buying. Four things move the number:
Refractive outcomes are predicted, not guaranteed. A small proportion of patients need an enhancement — a second, smaller treatment to fine-tune the result. In the UK, most reputable providers include enhancements free within 12 or 24 months. Abroad, the procedure may be free but the return flight is not.
Ask three questions and get the answers in writing:
A clinic that cannot state its enhancement rate either does not measure it or does not want to tell you.
Laser eye surgery needs review at one day, one week and one month, and often at three and twelve months. The one-day check happens in the destination country. Everything after that happens wherever you live.
The complications that matter — persistent dry eye, diffuse lamellar keratitis, epithelial ingrowth, raised intraocular pressure from steroid drops, or a refractive result that drifts — typically declare themselves in weeks two to eight. That is when being a two-hour flight from your surgeon is materially different from being a four-hour one, and very different from having no relationship with a UK ophthalmologist at all.
Practical approach: book a UK optometrist for a private post-operative review before you fly, and confirm which UK ophthalmology service you would use if something needed escalating. The NHS treats emergencies such as infection and retinal detachment; it does not fund routine review or enhancement of surgery arranged privately abroad.
The single strongest quality signal in this field is a clinic's willingness to say no. Common reasons to be declined include corneas too thin for the planned ablation depth, suspected or confirmed keratoconus, an unstable prescription that is still changing, significant dry eye, uncontrolled diabetes, and pregnancy or breastfeeding. If a clinic accepts you without a corneal topography scan and pachymetry, the price is irrelevant — walk away.
On the numbers, clearly yes: a £1,500 net saving on a procedure with globally standardised equipment. On the risk profile, it depends entirely on whether you have arranged UK follow-up and understood the enhancement terms. Patients who treat the flight as the whole plan are the ones who end up paying twice.
Both eyes privately: £1,600–£2,800 for LASEK or PRK, £2,000–£3,200 for standard LASIK, £2,600–£4,000 for wavefront or topography-guided LASIK, and £2,800–£4,400 for SMILE. Pricing is tiered by prescription strength, so advertised entry prices rarely apply.
Both eyes typically cost £700–£1,300 in Turkey, £850–£1,600 across Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Lithuania, and £1,400–£2,400 in Spain. After flights, 2–4 nights, drops and a UK review, the all-in figure is roughly £1,300–£1,900 against £2,000–£4,000 in the UK.
Turkey is generally the cheapest at £700–£1,300 for both eyes, followed by Lithuania and Poland. For UK patients the shorter EU flights are often worth the small premium because refractive surgery needs review at one day, one week and one month.
Check four things: the laser make and model, the treatment profile (standard, wavefront-optimised, guided), how many post-operative reviews are covered, and the enhancement policy including who pays the return flight. Quotes diverge on these, not on the surgery itself.
The NHS treats genuine emergencies such as infection or retinal detachment. It does not fund routine post-operative review, enhancement, or management of dry eye and refractive drift following elective surgery arranged privately overseas.
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