Short answer: Laser eye surgery is offered in Thailand, often at lower advertised prices, and many Australians consider it. Before you book, weigh what happens after the surgery. Your eyes need checking the next day and over the following weeks and months, complications can appear after you fly home, and travel insurance usually doesn’t cover elective procedures or their complications (Smartraveller). At Focus Vision in Brisbane, a year of aftercare with your own surgeon’s team, and free enhancements for two years, are part of the price.

Lower cost is the main reason people look overseas. In a 2025 survey for the Australian Government, 46% of travellers had travelled for a medical procedure or would consider it, and 69% of those considering it gave lower cost as the reason (Smartraveller and Insurance Council of Australia, 2025). This guide explains what to check, so the decision is based on the whole picture rather than the headline price.

What the Australian Government advises

Smartraveller’s page on Thailand notes that medical tourism is common there, and advises travellers to avoid discount and uncertified medical establishments, research providers carefully, and make sure travel insurance covers medical tourism, complications and medical evacuation (Smartraveller: Thailand). It also warns that the Australian Government won’t pay for intensive care, emergency surgery or medical evacuation overseas.

Its general advice on medical tourism (Smartraveller):

  • Minimum healthcare standards differ between countries, and between hospitals and doctors in the same country.
  • Check that the surgeon is qualified and the hospital accredited, and avoid unofficial medical facilities.
  • Some complications only show up after you get back to Australia, and fixing them can cost more than the original treatment.
  • Find out what follow-up care you will need in Australia before you leave.
  • Basic travel insurance usually won’t cover you: most standard policies exclude elective procedures and any problems that come from them.

Why aftercare matters after laser eye surgery

Laser eye surgery has a strong safety record (Sandoval et al., 2016), but the first weeks of healing are when most problems are picked up and treated. Surgeons usually want to see you the day after surgery (AAO). After PRK and TransPRK, the surface of the eye heals over several days under a bandage contact lens, which your clinician removes (StatPearls). Dry eye is common for some months and needs managing (AAO EyeWiki).

When surgery happens overseas, that continuity can break. A 2014 report on “LASIK tourism” described a patient who had LASIK abroad and returned home with cells growing under the corneal flap, needing further surgery; the authors concluded that LASIK tourism may leave patients less well informed of the risks and without continuity of professional care (Lockington et al., 2014). A 2026 review of UK patients found that eye surgery and other elective surgery done overseas can result in serious complications that are then treated at home (England et al., 2026).

This isn’t a judgement about any individual surgeon or clinic overseas. It is about who looks after your eyes once you’re home.

What aftercare looks like at Focus Vision

Your price at Focus Vision includes the whole journey, with the same team:

  • Before surgery: a free optometrist assessment, then a consultation with your specialist surgeon to confirm suitability and plan treatment (the consultation fee is deducted from the surgery price if you go ahead). If laser isn’t right for your eyes, we tell you, and explain the alternatives.
  • The surgery: performed by fellowship-trained corneal surgeons on the only hospital-based laser in Queensland, in Woolloongabba, where Focus Vision is co-located with the Queensland Eye Institute and the South Brisbane Day Hospital.
  • Follow-up: visits at one day (LASIK and CLEAR), one week and three months, plus a year of follow-up appointments, all included. If you live outside Brisbane, your last check can be with your local optometrist.
  • If something needs attention: you can call your surgeon’s team and be seen in Brisbane, without an international flight.
  • Enhancements: if your vision needs fine-tuning once it is stable, enhancements are free for two years after LASIK, Ray Tracing LASIK, TransPRK and CLEAR under our enhancement policy.
  • Published outcomes: Focus Vision’s co-founder Dr David Gunn and Rebecca Cox have published a peer-reviewed series of 205 eyes treated with StreamLight TransPRK at one Brisbane site, in which 95.6% of eyes saw 20/20 or better without glasses (Gunn & Cox, 2024). See the published TransPRK results.

You can check any Australian surgeon’s registration, and any conditions on it, on Ahpra’s public register (Ahpra).

Comparing the total cost

Overseas prices are often advertised per eye or per package, so compare like with like. Add up:

  • The surgery: what’s included (assessments, scans, follow-up visits, medications, enhancements), and what costs extra.
  • Flights and accommodation: long enough to have your next-day check, and about a week for PRK or TransPRK before flying.
  • Time off work for travel as well as recovery.
  • Specialised travel insurance that covers your procedure, complications and evacuation.
  • Follow-up in Australia: appointments with an optometrist or ophthalmologist after you return, and the cost of treating any complication.
  • Enhancements: whether they are included, and whether you’d need to travel back for one.

Focus Vision’s all-inclusive prices per eye are TransPRK from $3,500, LASIK and Ray Tracing LASIK from $4,250, and CLEAR from $4,250. They cover pre-operative assessments, the procedure and a year of follow-up appointments, with no surcharge for higher prescriptions. Prescribed medications and eye drops are extra (costs page). For ways to spread the cost, see Paying for laser eye surgery; a few top-tier health insurance policies also pay towards it (Bupa, Medibank).

If you still plan to go overseas

  1. Check the surgeon and the hospital. Confirm the surgeon’s qualifications and the hospital’s accreditation with the local authorities (Smartraveller).
  2. Get a written treatment plan naming the procedure, what is included, and the follow-up schedule.
  3. Plan your stay around healing, not around the flight: allow for the next-day check, and about a week after PRK or TransPRK. As a guide, Focus Vision patients can fly a day after LASIK or CLEAR and a week after PRK or TransPRK.
  4. Buy insurance that covers your procedure, its complications and medical evacuation, and read the policy wording.
  5. Arrange aftercare in Australia before you leave, and bring your surgical records home.
  6. Know what happens if you need an enhancement or treatment for a complication after you’ve returned.

Weighing it up

The price on the day is only part of the cost of laser eye surgery. The rest is the care you get afterwards, and how easily you can get it. If you’d like your options explained, including whether laser eye surgery suits your eyes at all, book a free optometrist assessment in Woolloongabba or call (07) 3239 5005. For how the procedures compare, see Types of laser eye surgery.

This article is general information only. It is not medical, travel or insurance advice.

References

  1. Smartraveller (Australian Government). Going overseas for a medical procedure (medical tourism). smartraveller.gov.au/travel-essentials/travel-health/medical-tourism
  2. Smartraveller (Australian Government). Thailand travel advice. smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/asia/thailand
  3. Insurance Council of Australia and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Travel insurance survey 2025. smartraveller.gov.au
  4. Sandoval HP, Donnenfeld ED, Kohnen T, et al. Modern laser in situ keratomileusis outcomes. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2016;42(8):1224-1234. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27531300
  5. American Academy of Ophthalmology. Does piloting a long-haul flight affect LASIK? Ask an Ophthalmologist. aao.org
  6. StatPearls. Photorefractive Keratectomy: Treatment & Management. statpearls.com/point-of-care/81676
  7. American Academy of Ophthalmology. Dry Eyes After Laser in situ Keratomileusis (LASIK). EyeWiki. eyewiki.org
  8. Lockington D, et al. Healthcare and a holiday: the risks of LASIK tourism. Clin Exp Optom. 2014;97(4):370-372. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24267517
  9. England et al. Complications and costs to the UK National Health Service due to outward medical tourism for elective surgery: a rapid review. BMJ Open. 2026;16(1):e109050. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41529913
  10. Gunn DJ, Cox RA. StreamLight single-step transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) for myopia and myopic astigmatism. J Ophthalmol. 2024;2024:5597457. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39575318
  11. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. Registers of practitioners. ahpra.gov.au/Registration/Registers-of-Practitioners
D

David Gunn

MBBS (Hons I), BSc, CertLRS, FRANZCO, FWCRS

Dr David Gunn is a corneal, cataract and laser eye surgeon and co-founder of Focus Vision in Brisbane. He completed fellowship training at the Bristol Eye Hospital and the London Vision Clinic in the UK, was the first surgeon in Australia to perform the CLEAR lenticule extraction procedure, and performed the first CAIRS procedure in Australia and New Zealand. He practises at the Queensland Eye Institute and co-created the CAIRSPlan surgical planner.

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