LASIK Eye Surgery in Brisbane
CLEAR (SMILE) & TransPRK

Your initial optometrist assessment is free. Every patient proceeding to surgery has a paid specialist surgeon consultation to confirm suitability, discuss their specific procedure and arrange surgery. The consultation fee is deducted from the surgery price for every procedure if you proceed. Prescribed medications and eye drops are purchased separately; eligible patients can access PBS subsidies for eligible prescriptions. See our pricing details.

At Focus Vision in Brisbane, laser eye surgery costs $3,500 per eye for TransPRK (no-touch surface laser) and $4,250 per eye for LASIK and CLEAR/SMILE. All surgical prices are all-inclusive except for prescribed medications and eye drops, which are purchased separately. The paid specialist surgeon consultation fee is deducted from the surgery price for every procedure if you proceed. There are no hidden costs for higher prescriptions, and every package includes all pre-operative assessments, the procedure itself, and one full year of aftercare appointments. Interest-free payment plans are available from as little as $34 per week. For a full price comparison with other Brisbane clinics, see our Costs page. If your vision needs fine-tuning afterwards, enhancements are free for two years under our enhancement policy.

The main difference is that LASIK involves creating a corneal flap, while SMILE (performed as CLEAR at Focus Vision) is a flapless, 'keyhole' procedure. CLEAR is often preferred for patients with dry eyes or those playing contact sports, as it preserves more corneal stability. Both achieve excellent visual outcomes.

Ray Tracing LASIK (also known as WaveLight Plus) plans your treatment on a 3D digital model of your individual eye, rather than your glasses prescription alone — correcting the higher-order aberrations that cause night-time halos and glare. Focus Vision is the only clinic in Queensland offering it, and it is included in our standard LASIK price for suitable candidates. Learn more on our Ray Tracing LASIK page.

Most people over 18 with a stable glasses prescription are suitable candidates. The key factors are: a stable prescription for at least 12 months, healthy corneas with adequate thickness, no active eye disease, and not currently pregnant or breastfeeding. Patients with thin corneas, high prescriptions, or dry eyes may be better suited to TransPRK or ICL surgery instead. The best way to find out is to take our free laser suitability test online, or book a free optometrist assessment with our optometrist team at Focus Vision in Woolloongabba.

Most people find the procedure itself painless — anaesthetic eye drops are applied before treatment, so you shouldn't feel sharp pain. You may be aware of a light pressure sensation for approximately 20 seconds during LASIK flap creation. After LASIK or CLEAR, most patients experience a gritty or watery feeling for a few hours, which settles overnight. TransPRK patients experience 3 to 5 days of moderate discomfort as the corneal surface heals, which is managed with prescribed drops and pain relief. More detail: is laser eye surgery painful?

• LASIK: 24-hour vision improvement; return to work in 1–2 days.
• CLEAR: misty for about a day; return to work after a few days.
• TransPRK: 3–5 days of discomfort; return to work in 7-10 days.
• ICL/Cataract: Dramatic improvement within 24 hours; return to work in 2–4 days.

Medicare does not cover elective laser vision correction, including LASIK, CLEAR/SMILE, or TransPRK. A few top-tier private health policies pay towards laser eye surgery after a 3-year (36-month) waiting period, notably Bupa Gold Ultimate Health Cover and Medibank Gold Ultra Health Cover: see Does Bupa cover laser eye surgery? and Does Medibank cover laser eye surgery? Some other funds, such as Navy Health and Defence Health, may also contribute. Focus Vision will check your specific entitlements as part of your free optometrist assessment. Interest-free payment plans are available to make surgery accessible regardless of insurance status.

Focus Vision is co-founded and led by two internationally fellowship-trained corneal subspecialists — Dr Brendan Cronin and Dr David Gunn — who trained at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital and Bristol Eye Hospital in the UK respectively. We are the only laser eye surgery clinic in Queensland to offer Ray Tracing LASIK, and our laser suite is housed inside the South Brisbane Day Hospital — one of the very few accredited private day hospitals in Australia where laser eye surgery is performed. This means the safety, hygiene, and monitoring standards of a fully accredited hospital apply to every procedure.

Both are surface laser techniques with no corneal flap. In standard PRK the epithelium is removed manually; in TransPRK the laser removes it in a single no-touch step before seamlessly reshaping the cornea. Each has advantages. At Focus Vision we always select the technique best suited to your individual eyes based on the detailed measurements taken at your assessment, and the price is the same either way. See PRK vs TransPRK vs ASA for how they compare.

Yes. A peer-reviewed series of 205 eyes treated with StreamLight TransPRK in Brisbane was published in the Journal of Ophthalmology in 2024 by Dr David Gunn and Rebecca Cox. 95.6% of eyes saw 20/20 or better without glasses, 92.2% were within ±0.50 D of the target prescription and no eye lost two or more lines of best-corrected vision. Our TransPRK results page explains the study in plain English and links to the full paper.

No. You should wait three to six months after you have finished breastfeeding before undergoing surgery. Pregnancy and nursing cause hormonal changes that can temporarily alter your corneal shape and prescription. Waiting ensures your results are based on a stable, permanent measurement.

You cannot 'ruin' the surgery by moving. We use a gentle device to keep your eyelids open, preventing blinking. Additionally, our advanced lasers use active eye-trackers that monitor your eye position 1,050 times per second, automatically pausing the laser if you move outside a microscopic range.

For LASIK, PRK and TransPRK you are awake, with numbing drops so you shouldn't feel pain, and medication to relax you very well. As our laser is in an accredited day hospital, you can have CLEAR performed while you sleep, with an anaesthetist. We are the only laser eye clinic in Brisbane that is able to offer laser eye surgery while you sleep. See Can I be asleep for laser eye surgery?

No. You must arrange for a friend or carer to drive you home. While your vision improves rapidly, your eyes will be sensitive to light and you may be mildly sedated. Most patients are cleared to drive themselves to their follow-up appointment the next morning.

The reshaping of your cornea is permanent. However, laser surgery does not stop the natural aging of the eye. While your distance vision remains corrected, most people will still develop presbyopia (the need for reading glasses) in their mid-40s or 50s as a separate age-related change.

Some people notice glare, halos or starbursts around lights, especially at night and in the first weeks while the eye heals (FDA). In a 2026 study of LASIK on the Alcon WaveLight EX500, the laser Focus Vision uses for LASIK, 3% or fewer patients found glare, halos or starbursts very or extremely bothersome a year after surgery (Lobanoff et al., 2026). Ray Tracing LASIK is planned from a model of your own eye, including the higher-order aberrations linked with night-time glare. We measure your pupils and corneal shape at your assessment and talk through your individual risk. See dry eye, glare and halos after LASIK.

Yes. If your corneas are too thin for LASIK, you may be an ideal candidate for TransPRK (a surface-based laser) or ICL (Implantable Contact Lens) surgery. TransPRK leaves the cornea without a flap, and ICL corrects your vision with a lens rather than by removing corneal tissue. We will explain which option suits your eyes at your assessment.