Eye care abroad: what to check before you book eye surgery

Cataract surgery treats a medical condition; laser vision correction and lens surgery done to reduce your need for glasses are elective. That difference decides what a public or insured system pays for.

If you live in the UK

Laser eye surgery and lens surgery are not usually offered on the NHS. The NHS says you may be able to get laser eye surgery on the NHS if you have an eye condition that could lead to loss of vision, including blindness, or problems with your sight that cannot be corrected by wearing glasses or contact lenses. Otherwise these operations are usually paid for privately: the NHS states that they are usually only available privately, and the Royal College of Ophthalmologists adds that surgery to correct the need for glasses or contact lenses is not available as an NHS procedure and is not covered by private health insurance schemes.

Cataract surgery is different. The NHS describes it as the only way to get rid of cataracts, carried out in hospital under local anaesthetic, and says a GP or eye specialist will talk to you about whether you want surgery and that there may be a wait, which you can ask your eye specialist about. If you have a cataract, ask about an NHS referral before paying privately anywhere.

If you live in the US

Medicare.gov states that Medicare Part B may cover cataract surgery that implants conventional intraocular lenses, depending on where you live, and that Part B covers one pair of eyeglasses with standard frames, or one set of contact lenses, after each such operation. After the Part B deductible you pay a share of the Medicare-approved amount. Those pages describe only conventional lenses and standard frames: lenses that also correct astigmatism or near vision, and laser surgery to reduce your need for glasses, are not among the items described as covered, so ask Medicare or your plan in writing which lens types and procedures it covers.

Medicare.gov also states that Medicare usually does not cover health care while you are travelling outside the US; the few exceptions concern emergencies, not planned surgery.

If you live elsewhere, ask your own insurer or health system, in writing and before booking, what it covers at home and what, if anything, it covers abroad.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists publishes a refractive surgery checklist for patients to use at the consultation, covering treatment options, costs, risks, aftercare and the questions to ask before deciding whether to proceed. Take it to any consultation, anywhere.

The College's professional standards for refractive surgery (December 2024) describe UK practice and are a useful yardstick anywhere. The consultation at which the procedure is recommended should be with the surgeon who will operate, face to face, and not on the day of surgery. A video consultation is acceptable only if that surgeon already has up-to-date test results, including corneal tomography with keratoconus screening, if it takes place at least a week before surgery, and if the operating surgeon personally examines your eyes on the day. Consent is a two-stage process with a cooling-off period of at least a week, and there should be no pressure to proceed: no time-limited discounts, and a refundable deposit.

Not everyone is suitable, and a good assessment can end with advice not to operate. For laser vision correction the College asks for an age over 18 and a stable prescription, normally no change greater than 0.5 dioptres in the last two years, and says other eye problems, including cataracts or eye surface disease, may rule you out. The American Academy of Ophthalmology adds keratoconus or a thin cornea, uncontrolled dry eye or autoimmune disease, and pregnancy or breastfeeding to the reasons to defer or decline.

Contact lens wearers usually need a break before the measurements, because lenses change the shape of the cornea: the Academy suggests at least three days to two weeks without soft lenses and longer without toric or rigid ones, and the NHS says to leave lenses out for a few days before cataract surgery. If the clinic is abroad, that break decides when you travel.

Ask which of these standards a clinic follows, wherever it is, and be wary of a plan, a lens or a price fixed before anyone has examined your eyes.

Complications can happen during or after any eye operation; the NHS says the risks vary between types of surgery and that your surgeon will explain them beforehand. No eye operation is free of risk, and the assessment and the surgeon decide much of it.

• Laser vision correction. Glare, halos, starbursts, blurred or variable vision and dry eye symptoms are common early on and normally improve, although the College says lasting problems can occur. Under-correction or over-correction can call for a second operation: the College says as many as one patient in ten needs some additional surgery. Permanent serious loss of vision is rare, and fewer than one patient in five thousand needs a corneal transplant afterwards.
• Lens and cataract surgery. Clouding of the capsule behind the new lens (posterior capsule opacification), a detached retina, infection, bleeding or inflammation, and problems with the position of the new lens. After lens surgery done to reduce the need for glasses, the NHS also lists age-related cataracts arriving earlier.
• Corneal transplant. Rejection, which the NHS says can happen at any time after the transplant; cloudiness or dislodgement of the new tissue; astigmatism; inflammation and raised pressure; infection; a detached retina; and cataract.
• Strabismus surgery. Further surgery to fully correct the squint, which the NHS calls quite common; permanent double vision; infection; the eye muscles slipping out of position; and, very rarely, loss of vision.

Laser correction permanently changes the cornea: the tissue removed does not grow back, which is why the assessment matters more than the price. The NHS notes that some lens implants can be removed if they cause problems, with vision returning to what it was; that is not true of a laser treatment.

The countries below have an eye surgery page on Flymedi with listed clinics, grouped by region and ordered by how often readers use them. Travel advice was checked on 17 September 2026 against the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the US State Department for every city with a listed clinic.

Mexico is not linked from this page: one of its listed hospitals is in Tijuana, where the FCDO advises against all but essential travel. Romania, Cyprus and Germany currently have no English eye surgery page.