What can be done before you travel: planning guide
A remote conversation can establish whether treatment is plausible and what to bring, but it cannot replace the examination, because the measurements that decide suitability are taken in person.
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- SmilePro.ae editorial team
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- Medical review pending: what this means
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Quick answer
A remote consultation can establish whether treatment is plausible, explain which procedures a clinic offers, answer questions about cost and recovery, and say what to send or bring. It cannot establish suitability, because that rests on measurements taken on the eye itself. Treat it as preparation for the visit rather than as a substitute for it.
General educational information about a subject, not an assessment of your own eyes. Suitability and treatment decisions are made by a qualified ophthalmologist who has examined you.
- Subject
- International patient
- Questions on this subject
- 4
- Related subjects
- 9
What can be done before you travel
Clinics see patients from abroad routinely, and most of the conversation that happens before a flight can happen without one. What can be settled remotely is whether the trip is worth making and how to prepare for it.
What cannot be settled remotely is the decision. Suitability rests on the shape and thickness of the cornea, the refraction and the state of the ocular surface, and none of those can be measured through a screen.
What a remote conversation can answer
Which procedures the clinic offers, which platform is installed on site, who would operate, how a visit of a given length would be sequenced, what a quote includes, and what happens afterwards. Those are the questions that decide whether to travel, and none of them requires an examination.
It is also the right moment to ask the administrative questions that are awkward to raise on arrival, such as what happens if the measurements point to a different treatment.
What it cannot answer
Suitability, the choice of procedure and the price of your own treatment all depend on measurements. A clinic that names a procedure or a figure before examining the eye is answering a question it has not yet been asked.
That is worth treating as a signal. The alternative answer, that only an examination can say, is the correct one.
What to send ahead
Recent records help without being decisive: a current prescription, any previous topography or scan, a list of medications, and relevant history such as diabetes, previous eye surgery or a family history of keratoconus. They let a clinic say whether a trip is plausible before it is booked.
Send them scanned rather than photographed where possible, and keep the originals: a clinic will take its own measurements anyway, and the value of the older ones is comparison.
Making the conversation useful
A short list makes a video call more productive than a long one.
- Which surgeon would operate, and does their licence cover the procedure
- Which platform is installed at the facility, not which is available on request
- What the written quote includes, and what is charged separately
- How the visit is sequenced, and how many days it needs
- What happens if the examination suggests a different treatment
What happens after you arrive
The visit begins with the examination, and the plan follows from it. A remote conversation that ends with a plausible plan and a booked assessment date has done its job, and one that ends with a promise of treatment has not.
Also known as online consultation, remote consultation, video consultation, send my results, pre-travel assessment
Questions about What can be done before you travel
Each answer below is the short version; the question links to the page that carries it in full, with sources.
- Can I have an online consultation with a Dubai ophthalmologist?
A remote consultation can cover history, your current prescription, general options and what the assessment will involve. It cannot replace the measurements that decide suitability, because those need equipment and your physical presence.
- Can I send my previous eye test results before travelling?
Yes, and it helps. Sending previous measurements and scans lets the clinic review whether a trip is likely to be worthwhile before you commit to flights.
- What happens during a vision correction consultation?
A vision correction consultation combines a refraction with a full eye examination and imaging of the cornea, and it ends with a discussion of whether surgery is appropriate and which technique fits your measurements.
- What should I bring to an eye consultation?
Bring your current glasses or the prescription for them, any contact lens details including the type and how long you wear them, a list of your medications, and any previous eye records or scans.
All 37 International patients questions, searchable
Related subjects
- International patients
For readers abroad weighing treatment in the UAE: what can be done remotely, how much time to allow, what to send ahead, and how follow-up works once you are home.
- Dubai
The emirate where most of the UAE refractive surgery capacity is, and the one most international patients travel to. Licensing, clinic choice and what a quote should contain are the local questions.
- LASIK
Flap-based laser vision correction: a thin surface layer of the cornea is lifted, the tissue beneath it is reshaped, and the layer is replaced without stitches.
- How long to allow in the UAE
The trip has to cover the assessment, any waiting period the cornea needs, the procedure and at least the first check. Flying home is a separate question from being ready to fly.
- Flying to Dubai for LASIK
What a patient from outside the UAE has to arrange that a resident does not: the sequence of appointments, the interval before the cornea can be measured, and who checks the eye after the flight home.
- Am I a candidate for SMILE Pro?
The factors an assessment settles, and why no page can decide suitability for a particular eye.
- The assessment and its scans
The consultation, topography, tomography and any other imaging before surgery. Some clinics fold it into a package, some charge it separately, and a few deduct it if you proceed.
- An eye consultation in Dubai
What happens at an assessment for laser eye surgery, how long to allow for it, what to bring, how to prepare, and what the visit should leave you holding when it ends.
- Flying to Dubai for SMILE
SMILE depends on a specific platform rather than on a technique, so a patient travelling for it has to confirm the equipment is installed before booking anything else.
This page describes what is generally true about what can be done before you travel. It is not a diagnosis, and it cannot say whether a treatment is suitable for you, because suitability depends on measurements taken during an examination.
Sources & further reading
We prefer primary sources. Where a claim comes from a manufacturer, a single study or a regulator, it is labelled as such below.
- EyeSmart: eye health information for the public Patient information American Academy of Ophthalmology
Patient-facing material from the largest ophthalmology professional body, covering conditions, tests and treatments outside refractive surgery.
Used for Cross-checking patient-facing explanations of non-refractive eye conditions; Describing what tests such as dilation and OCT involve.
Link checked 23 September 2026