Why Dutch Go Abroad for their LASIK Eye Surgery?

LASIK eye surgery gains increased in popularity in the Netherlands. Dutch people visit ophthalmologists more and more in search of proper laser eye correction methods. Still, an increasing number of them decide to have their LASIK eye surgery abroad rather than in their home country. Why is that so? First, you might want to know how LASIK eye surgery is performed. LASIK eye procedure, or laser-assisted in situ keratomileuses, is a popular vision correction surgery. In LASIK surgery, the ophthalmologist creates a flap in the epithelium, through which a patient’s cornea can be accessed. Then reshapes the cornea and removes a piece of corneal tissue for improving the focusing ability of a special laser.

This flap is the main difference between LASIK and PRK or other vision correction techniques – not removing the epithelium induces the healing process. In most cases, this refractive eye surgery helps to achieve 20/20 vision and deems using glasses unnecessary. If needed to talk about its side effects here, some patients may experience glare, halos, or double vision that can seriously affect nighttime vision after the LASIK surgery. Steroid eye drops used after LASIK can cause high eye pressure in susceptible patients. If you have been prescribed steroid medications for any reason, you should consult with your eye doctor.

In this article, we will focus on the reasons why Dutch people choose to have this special treatment abroad. These reasons will also help you to get the general idea of having LASIK surgery abroad which becomes very popular in recent years.

LASIK Costs Are Cheaper in the Other Countries

Laser eye surgery price remains the most important factor for Dutch people. In Amsterdam or Rotterdam, the price of LASIK oscillates around €3000. It is a part of a larger trend, with the Netherlands thought to have one of the most expensive healthcare systems in the world.

It is no wonder then that Dutch people decide to go abroad in search of affordable laser vision correction. Just one plane away is Poland, where the cost of laser surgery is much lower, estimated to be around €1100 per eye. Even in Spain LASIK eye surgery is cheaper. Having refractive eye surgery in Madrid or another well-known Spanish city will cost nearly €1400. Still, there are even more affordable options possible to be reached by one direct flight from the Netherlands. In Turkey, the average LASIK treatment cost is €1600. Still, so low eye surgery price doesn’t mean that getting Lasik abroad affects quality but is a result of lower facility and insurance costs.

READ: How much does LASIK cost? The average LASIK cost per eye

Comparable Quality of LASIK Eye Surgery

The fact that prices are much more affordable in countries such as Poland, Spain, or Turkey than in the Netherlands should not create a concern for quality. Because all these countries are competing with each other in superior quality, they provide health services. All of these countries are well-known health tourism destinations chosen for various laser eye treatments including LASIK refractive eye surgery. Ophthalmologists in those countries are experienced and ready to listen to patients’ suggestions. Therefore, patients do not need to worry about LASIK eye surgery results when choosing this vision correction technique in hospitals or eye clinics in Madrid, Warsaw, or Istanbul.

LASIK Eye Surgery & Travelling?

Finally, Dutch people give up on this simple argument: why not pair a LASIK eye treatment with a nice trip? After all, it is better to go through laser eye surgery recovery while sightseeing in the streets of Cracow’s Old Town or Istanbul’s Sultanahmet area than staying in the Netherlands, isn’t it? LASIK eye surgery recovery time is relatively quick but enjoying our stay in some foreign destination will not disturb the recovery process, to the contrary, we will be more relaxed just as we need to. LASIK patients’ decisions show that this is a viable argument for them. This trend in laser eye treatment seems to increase with time.