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Costs
Costs, insurance & practicalities: Questions and Answers
What actually moves the price of vision correction, what a quote should contain, how insurance treats elective and medical eye surgery differently, and why two quotes are not comparable until you know what each one covers.
What actually moves the price of vision correction, what a quote should contain, how insurance treats elective and medical eye surgery differently, and why two quotes are not comparable until you know what each one covers.
General educational information. It does not replace an examination, and it cannot tell you what is happening in your own eyes.
Answers
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Costs
There is no published tariff for elective refractive surgery in the UAE, so the only binding price is the written quote you are given. This section is about reading that quote properly rather than hunting for an average that does not exist.
Prices are held in one editable data file rather than written into answers, so they can be corrected without rewriting the knowledge base.
Costs, insurance & practicalities questions and answers
Costs
What actually moves the price of vision correction, what a quote should contain, how insurance treats elective and medical eye surgery differently, and why two quotes are not comparable until you know what each one covers.
There is no fixed price for LASIK in Dubai. Each clinic sets its own, and the total depends on the clinic, the surgeon, the technology used and what the quote includes.
Anyone quoting a single national average is describing a figure they invented or a promotional number that has expired. What you can compare is what each clinic includes for its price, which is a more useful exercise than comparing headline totals.
Laser eye surgery in Dubai is priced by the clinic rather than by a schedule, and prices differ between procedures, between clinics and between surgeons within the same clinic.
The figures shown on clinic websites are usually starting prices for a standard case. A higher prescription, a different technology or an additional treatment requirement can change the total, which is why the written quote matters more than the advertised number.
SMILE is priced per clinic in Dubai, and the quote depends on the clinic, the platform used, the surgeon and which follow-up visits and medications are included.
SMILE Pro is priced by each clinic, so the honest answer is that the range is wide and the only figure that binds anyone is the written quote you are given.
The most common reason two SMILE Pro quotes differ by a meaningful amount is not the laser. It is whether the assessment, the medication, the follow-up visits and any retreatment policy are inside the figure or added later.
Femto LASIK is priced per clinic, and it is usually quoted above a standard flap procedure because the femtosecond laser is a separate device from the excimer laser.
PRK is priced per clinic in Dubai and is often quoted below flap procedures, largely because the treatment itself uses fewer devices, though the follow-up schedule can add visits.
Both habits exist, and the difference changes the number by a factor of two. Ask explicitly whether the figure is per eye or for both, and get it written on the quote rather than confirmed over the phone.
A price per eye is not dishonest, and it makes the figure look smaller than the total someone will pay. Since two people can be corrected on one day, the only reliable comparison is what the whole course of treatment costs for both eyes, including the parts that are not the surgery.
It depends on how the clinic quotes, and the two conventions produce the same treatment for very different headline numbers. Ask for the total for both eyes and for the cost of the second eye if the first has been treated.
What this depends on
Whether the clinic treats both eyes on one day
Whether the fee covers the surgeon and the facility separately
It can. A higher prescription takes more treatment time and, in some cases, more tissue, and some clinics price by range rather than by a single figure. If the advertised price is a starting price, ask what would move it for your measurements.
What this depends on
The size of the prescription and the amount of astigmatism
Whether the treatment plan changes
Whether the clinic quotes before or after the assessment
It depends on the clinic. Some include the assessment in the surgical fee, some charge for it separately, and some charge separately but deduct it if you proceed.
Ask which of those applies before you book, and ask what the assessment includes. A free assessment that consists of a refraction without corneal imaging is not equivalent to one that includes it.
The cost of an eye test in Dubai depends on what the test covers. A refraction for glasses is priced differently from a comprehensive examination with dilation and imaging.
If the reason for the appointment is a symptom or a surgical assessment, the comprehensive examination is the relevant one. Ask what is included rather than comparing prices across different examinations.
Sometimes. Practices differ: some charge for the assessment and then deduct it from the procedure price if you book, some include it in a package, some charge it separately with no deduction. Ask before the appointment rather than after.
They are usually inside the assessment fee rather than charged per test, and a clinic that prices them individually should be able to list what each one is. If a test is added after the first visit, ask what finding prompted it.
A complete quote should state whether it covers the assessment, the procedure itself, medication, the follow-up visits, and any retreatment. Anything not stated is not included.
The two lines most often left out are the postoperative medication and the later follow-up visits. Neither is large on its own, and together they can move the real total noticeably.
Often they are included for a defined period, and how long that period lasts is one of the most important lines in any quote, because it determines who pays for anything found later.
Ask specifically what happens after that period ends, and what the clinic charges for an unplanned visit. That question tends to produce a more informative answer than asking whether follow-up is included.
Sometimes. Postoperative drops are a real cost and are often listed separately, so it is worth asking whether they are supplied by the clinic or bought by you.
A package name tells you a total; an itemised quote tells you what you are buying. The second is what you can compare between clinics, because two packages with the same total can contain different tests, different follow-up schedules and different policies on retreatment.
Often it is deducted from the procedure fee if you proceed, and often it is charged whether or not you do. What matters is knowing which, because an assessment that is free until you commit is a different arrangement from a consultation fee.
What this depends on
Whether the fee is refunded or deducted
Whether the assessment is done by the surgeon or a technician
Whether a second opinion visit is charged separately
Because the visits cost the clinic money, and a clinic that does not include them in the price is charging for what is used rather than spreading the cost. Neither arrangement is wrong, and a clinic that includes visits should be able to say how many.
What this depends on
How many visits are included, and over what period
Whether visits are charged if you go elsewhere for them
Whether there is a charge for an out-of-hours contact
Elective laser vision correction is usually not covered, because it is treatment for a refractive error rather than for a disease, and most policies exclude it explicitly.
Some employer plans do include it, so it is worth checking your own policy schedule rather than assuming. Ask the clinic for the procedure code and the diagnosis code before you call the insurer, since the answer often depends on both.
As with other elective refractive procedures, SMILE is usually excluded from standard health insurance in the UAE, though some employer plans include a refractive benefit and cover differs between policies.
Occasionally, where the policy covers treatment abroad and pre-authorises it. For elective refractive surgery, most policies exclude it in any case, so the sequence is to check the exclusion first and the international cover second.
What this depends on
Whether the policy covers treatment outside your country
Whether refractive surgery is excluded as elective
Card and bank transfer are the ordinary methods, some clinics offer instalment arrangements through a finance provider, and direct insurance billing only applies where the procedure is covered and pre-authorised.
What this depends on
Whether the clinic bills insurers directly
Whether a finance plan is available and on what terms
Whether the currency of the quote introduces a conversion cost
The main reasons are the technology in use, the surgeon’s experience, how much of the total is bundled into one figure, the location and running costs of the facility, and how many follow-up visits are included.
A low price is sometimes a genuinely lean operation and sometimes a quote that excludes what the higher one includes. The way to tell the difference is to compare the itemised contents rather than the totals.
Price is one of the least informative things to compare, because the cheapest quote and the most expensive one are often not selling the same thing.
The factors worth comparing are what is measured before surgery, who actually operates, what the quote includes, how follow-up is handled and what the retreatment policy is. Price is the output of those decisions rather than a substitute for them.
It can be cheaper in some destinations, and the comparison only becomes meaningful once travel, accommodation, time off work and the cost of follow-up after you return are included.
The follow-up point is the one that catches people out. A procedure performed cheaply elsewhere can still need local aftercare, and not every clinic will take on the aftercare of a procedure performed somewhere else.
The risk is not that cheap treatment is bad. It is that an unusually low price usually means something has been left out, and the thing left out is often the assessment depth or the follow-up.
The specific questions that expose this are whether corneal tomography is part of the assessment, who performs the surgery, and what is included after it. A clinic that answers those clearly is worth more than the difference in price.
Check what has been left out rather than what has been discounted. The common omissions are the assessment, the medication, follow-up visits beyond the first, and any provision for a second procedure if the result is not enough.
An unusually low figure is sometimes a genuinely lean clinic and sometimes a figure that applies to a narrower case than yours. Asking a clinic to itemise the quote, and to say what it would add for your measurements, settles the question in a way that comparing totals cannot.
What this depends on
Which tests are included
How many follow-up visits are included, and where
What happens financially if an enhancement is needed
Line by line, in writing, with the same questions asked of both: per eye or both, which tests, which medication, how many follow-up visits, what happens if the result needs a second procedure, and who is available if something goes wrong at the weekend.
The one thing worth ignoring in a comparison is the total on its own. Two quotes that differ by a meaningful amount almost always differ in content rather than in the quality of the laser, and the content is the part you can check.
What this depends on
Whether both quotes cover the same number of visits
Whether both include the assessment and medication
How much each procedure costs depends on the clinic, so this table shows what is verified rather than what is typical. Where no verified figure exists yet, it says so.
Procedure prices in Dubai and the UAE, and what each figure is understood to cover
Procedure
Basis
Price
LASIK
Per eye, flap-based laser correction
Varies by clinic
Femto LASIK
Per eye, laser-created flap
Varies by clinic
SMILE
Per eye, lenticule extraction
Varies by clinic
SMILE Pro
Per eye, SMILE on a newer platform generation
Varies by clinic
PRK and TransPRK
Per eye, surface treatment
Varies by clinic
Implantable lens (phakic IOL)
Per eye, lens inserted without removing the natural lens
Varies by clinic
Cataract surgery
Per eye, including a standard intraocular lens
Varies by clinic
Refractive assessment
Per visit, including corneal imaging where stated
Varies by clinic
Comprehensive eye examination
Per visit, with dilation and imaging where stated
Varies by clinic
Figures are shown in UAE dirhams. Where no verified figure exists, the table says so rather than estimating. No figure in this table has been verified from a named clinic's written quote yet, so every row
reads “varies”. That is the honest answer rather than a missing one: there is no published tariff for
elective refractive surgery in the UAE, and the only binding figure is the quote you are given.
What to ask instead of asking for an average
Does the figure include the assessment, or is that charged separately?
Is the postoperative medication supplied by the clinic or bought by me?
How many follow-up visits are included, and what happens after that period?
Is enhancement included, and under what conditions would the clinic perform it?
If my cornea needs a different procedure after the assessment, does the price change?
Educational information only
These answers describe what is generally true. They are not a diagnosis and they cannot say
whether a treatment is suitable for you, because suitability depends on measurements taken during
an examination. Only a qualified ophthalmologist who has examined you can decide.
The UAE government’s own listing of the federal health authority and of the emirate-level health authorities, naming which part of the country each one covers.
Used for Explaining that more than one authority licenses healthcare in the UAE; Explaining which body to approach about a licensed facility.
Link checked 24 September 2026
Related pages
These pages go deeper on the questions that usually follow this one.